Just curious about this...
I always had this idea that the lead programmer was one of the more competent programmers in a group.
Now after talking a bit more with some people I am now getting the impression that the lead programmer has to be competent but might not be the best programmer on the team. That it?s more of a team leader type role (goes back to project management theory now) where the person has a more sound general knowledge about things....
Would anyone care to shed more light on this?
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Lead programmer is definitely a personel/project management position, and I guess it's your responsibility to report to all the other "lead" people in a team. Extensive programming knowledge (and I guess *alot* of experience) is mandatory for that kind of position, but as for being the most "skilzed" coder in a group, I don't think it's a necessity, but it may be the case sometimes.
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Aside from the managerial role, the lead programmer is usually one who knows enough about all areas of programming but not necessarily the knows the most about each area. I tend to go to the lead programmer when I have questions about implementation that may affect other areas outside my expertise. Usually the lead can say whether or not it definitely does affect other areas, what consequences it may have and bring in the other coders who are more expert in that area of the code.
I've found the best leads are ones who know alot about everything but they aren't the best in everything. The worst leads try to do everything themselves instead of delegating because they think they can do a better job.
All of the good programmers in a development studio are usually labelled as "Senior Programmers" (even though most of the senior programmers that I spoke to at the agdc were under 30), the "Lead Programmer" position is usually given to someone with a reasonable amount of programming experience, as you might expect for the senior programming position, but they also have a lot of management skills.
The lead programmer position is more that of a manager, and thus they fit into the lead designer, lead artist, producer group of people.