Followership vs Leadership

Developers should learn followership to enhance team dynamics, improve collaboration with technical leads or managers, and contribute more effectively to agile or cross-functional projects meets developers should cultivate leadership skills to advance into senior, lead, or management roles, where they can influence project success, mentor junior team members, and align technical work with business objectives. Here's our take.

Followership

Nice Pick

Developers should learn followership to enhance team dynamics, improve collaboration with technical leads or managers, and contribute more effectively to agile or cross-functional projects

Pros

• It is particularly useful in software development environments where peer programming, code reviews, and iterative processes require proactive engagement and constructive feedback from all team members
• Related to: leadership, teamwork

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Leadership

Developers should cultivate leadership skills to advance into senior, lead, or management roles, where they can influence project success, mentor junior team members, and align technical work with business objectives

Pros

• It's essential for roles like tech lead, engineering manager, or CTO, where guiding teams through complex projects, resolving conflicts, and ensuring code quality are key responsibilities
• Related to: project-management, communication-skills

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Followership is a concept while Leadership is a methodology. We picked Followership based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Followership wins

Based on overall popularity. Followership is more widely used, but Leadership excels in its own space.