So when Bryan asked me the other day whether a Technical Aide was someone who reported to a Technical Lead, I had to smile.

It is not like the titles, which aim for consistency, really meet their goals.

A Software Development Enginner reports to a Development Lead who reports to a Development Manager.

And a Software Test Engineer reports to a Software Development Enginner in Test who reports to a Test Lead who reports to a Test Manager. Which is kind of consistent, too.

But then does a Program Manager report to a Program Manager Lead who reports to a Program Manager Manager?

No, a Program Manager reports to a Lead Program Manager who reports to a Group Program Manager.

Then all three of those managers may report to a Group Manager who may report to a Product Unit Manager may report to a Director who may report to a General Manager who may report to a Corporate Vice President who may report to a Vice President (or vice versa), and so on.

Consistency is not our weakness here.

Now I talked about a Technical Lead a bit in this post, but I can add to that the fact that a Technical Aide does not report to a Technical Lead.

A Technical Aide is kind of like the Microoft version of a Lord Privy Seal or a Minister Without Portfolio. They would usually report to someone really important like a CTO or a VP.... which of course I am not.

Maybe a Technical Lead could report to a Technical Aide, though usually not.

So Bryan, does that answer your question? :-)