TL Capability Map

A capability-based program for Tech Leads moving from application expertise to architectural thinking. Each capability has a situation, curated resources, and a practice exercise. Start with Capability 1 or jump to whatever your team needs most.

How they connect

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graph TD
    C10["10. Write to Drive Decisions"]:::alongside
    C11["11. AI Partner"]:::alongside
    C1["1. Smell-Test Claims"]
    C2["2. Scope the Problem"]
    C3["3. Find Boundaries"]
    C4["4. Pressure-Test"]
    C5["5. Think in Production"]
    C6["6. Data Product Thinking"]
    C7["7. Strategic Map"]
    C8["8. Design from the Business"]
    C9["9. Lead the Conversation"]

    C1 --> C3
    C2 --> C3
    C3 --> C4
    C4 <-.-> C5
    C3 --> C6
    C6 --> C8
    C5 -.-> C8
    C2 -----> C8
    C7 ----> C8
    C8 --> C9
    C7 --> C9
    C10 ~~~ C11

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    classDef alongside fill:#f8f8f8,stroke:#706F6F,stroke-width:1.5px,stroke-dasharray:5 4,color:#4a4a49,font-weight:600,rx:20,ry:20

    style C2 fill:#fef3e6,stroke:#8a4500,color:#6b3600
    style C3 fill:#e6f7f7,stroke:#006b6b,color:#005555
    style C4 fill:#ededfc,stroke:#1a1f99,color:#1a1f99
    style C5 fill:#f2e6e9,stroke:#8a1538,color:#6b0f2a
    style C6 fill:#f2f0f8,stroke:#5a4a8a,color:#4a3d75
    style C7 fill:#e6f4fa,stroke:#00698f,color:#005a7a
    style C8 fill:#edf7f1,stroke:#2d7a4a,color:#1f6338
    style C9 fill:#fef3e6,stroke:#8a4500,color:#6b3600
    style C10 fill:#f8edf4,stroke:#7a2d5a,color:#5e1d45

1. Smell-Test Claims is the gateway, and together with 2. Scope the Problem it feeds 3. Find Boundaries: clarifying the claim and scoping the problem set up boundary finding. 4. Pressure-Test and 5. Think in Production are the design-stress pair. 6. Data Product Thinking builds on 3 — once you have boundaries, design what crosses them. 2. Scope the Problem and 7. Strategic Map feed 8. Design from the Business, with 7. Strategic Map also feeding 9. Lead the Conversation. 10. Write to Drive Decisions and 11. AI Partner are force multipliers you use alongside everything.

Books (O'Reilly Learning)

Software Architecture: The Hard Parts — Ford, Richards, Sadalage, Dehghani
Building Evolutionary Architectures 2nd ed — Ford, Parsons, Kua, Sadalage
Data Mesh — Dehghani
Designing Data-Intensive Applications 2nd ed — Kleppmann & Riccomini
Fundamentals of Software Architecture — Richards & Ford
The Software Architect Elevator — Hohpe
An Elegant Puzzle — Larson