When a development team runs into some sort of road block or issue with their project, how should the tech lead find the best solution? The following is my opinion after working under several individuals with great technical leadership:

1. Brainstorm: Find out what problems the developers are having, and brainstorm possible solutions. Get a list of the pain points the developers are experiencing. Don’t make any decisions now, just get a list of things going badly and ideas for solutions.

2. Research: From the brainstorming session research possible solutions to the problems. Use the notes from the brainstorming session as a start but don’t let them be a limiter. Test out the solutions within the project itself.

3. Implement: Pick the best solution. Create examples of how this solution handles the pain points the developers were having. Present it to the developers with real working examples of it being used in the project.

4. Feedback: As the developers start using the solution, ask for feedback and continually reevaluate the solution to make sure the right one was picked.

5. Refactor: If the new solution has too many problems, go back to step 2. Don’t get stuck with another solution that sucks in different ways.