How to judge the quality of a team lead's work?

Question

Project management

There was a team of ios developers, senior, + - lazy middle and jun. The senior was sent to Moscow and the lazy middle was made a team lead. He recruited 3 more juniors to the team and the work in the department almost stopped. There are a lot of examples, I will give two, the task of disabling the button according to the condition of filling one field was done for 7 hours, changing the letter ё to e (a whim of analytics) in a couple of places 4 hours. It’s clear that the juniors don’t drag, they just delve into it, plus he spends time on their training and a lot of nuances, but the application was completely refactored that year by the departed senior (95% of the Swift code) and the speed of the team is clearly slower than it could be.
Of course, I’m a PM (a stupid manager doesn’t understand anything), I used to code in js, but it doesn’t fit in my head, as a task to replace 2 letters, you can do 4 hours, and an elementary condition - 7 hours, given that the code is legacy not in the app. Moreover, the landmark under the nose is the androids, there are three of them (two middles and a junior). Given the same tasks ahead already several times. This has never happened before. The cost per requirement was almost always +- the same, somewhere one team did faster, somewhere else, but there was never such a huge difference. Even the atmosphere in the android team is different, no matter how I come in, it’s always at work, but here the fun, noise and atmosphere are clearly not working. There is access to the git, but I don’t know the sfift, and I can’t judge the quality and volume of the code. There is no sense in sprints and assessments, there is only one excuse in different versions, such as "
In any case, there are times when the team leader messes up, hence the question, how to understand this? How to judge the quality of a lead's work?
So far, I have only one option, to knock out a new vacancy for at least a middle ios developer with an appropriate salary, with an eye to the fact that he can take the place of the current lead in the future and then, due to competition, everything can get off the ground.
Thank you.

Answer 1

So far, I have only one option, to knock out a new vacancy for at least a middle ios developer with an appropriate salary, with an eye to the fact that he can take the place of the current lead in the future and then, due to competition, everything can get off the ground.

That is, your Senior left, you put a middle in his place, you see that they can’t cope, and you want to take another middle?
IMHO the problem here is not in the middle, but in the PM.
As for what to do - talk to the middle, find out if another mid will help. Or you still need to take a senior with the appropriate RFP.

Answer 2

Of course, I can outline what to see for you (below). But what's the point. It is unlikely that the PM should evaluate this, rather the technical director.
How to evaluate the effectiveness of a team
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0CRiCeJ99s
We evaluate the processes in a development team based on objective data
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yDLzoX4re4
art?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K2AtJama28&t=13s
Improving performance review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKXJ_AWPVBA
Looking for a team lead: long, expensive and no guarantees
https://www .youtube.com/watch?v=yp9d3FwGXxg

Answer 3

Of course I'm pm (stupid manager doesn't understand anything)

It does not matter.
It is important to have an alternative.
The only question is - can you replace employees or not.
If you can easily replace:
Do what you want with existing ones - fine, fire, reduce wages, etc., etc.
Look for new ones, hire new ones.
If you have nowhere to go:
Speak, beg, give bonuses with or without reason.
It does not matter.
What matters is how you can influence it.
If you can force them with persuasion, bonuses, fines, change of personnel, then force them.
If you can't, then take this speed of work for granted.
It may indeed be so.
Or maybe you are being scammed.
But it is not important.
What matters is what you can do about it.
Smack, kiss, replace with other employees.
If you can't do any of this, take it for granted.
If you can, then smack, kiss, replace.
That is, you cannot hire a senior to replace the departed?
In principle, your option is also an option.
Practice shows that as soon as a person begins to understand that they begin to refuse his services (they look for a replacement for him, hire an alternative), he immediately begins to move.
If it does not begin to move, and in this case - into the furnace of such an employee.
On the other hand - what if the low speed is still objective? Are you really sure that your middle is so bad that any other middle would be better?
If this is so, then yes, you will correct the situation.
If not, then do not correct the situation.
Well, why did you decide that the second middle is needed?
Maybe it's safer to ask a professional?
The senior with a high probability will be able to tell you in advance the dates and who he needs to help. That's why he's a senor.

Answer 4

If you are a project manager, then it is not your headache why the team is not effective. You see that it is not effective - contact the team leadership, this issue should be dealt with by the immediate supervisor (teamlead cannot correct the situation, contact his leader). You are not a direct leader, you do not have the necessary tools.
As for excuses, just do not accept them, if something went wrong, then a description of the problem (how and why it came to this) and ways to prevent it in the future. It does not help and the problem repeats - contact your immediate supervisor, he must influence his employees. For the rest, you yourself know - planning, exact deadlines, milestones, daily meetings (what we did yesterday, what we planned to do, but did not do it yesterday, what we are doing today). For good, this should be done by the teamlead, and you just have to be present.
If in your company it is considered that this is only your problem, and your influence on developers is limited only by conversations, then you have hit, you will always be extreme.
Yes, in a good way you need to be able to negotiate, but since you feel that control is lost, then this opportunity has been missed so far.

Answer 5

So you already appreciated the quality of his work. What difference does it make what level he writes code if his work does not move? Moreover, you have an objective metric in the form of a team of androids who have galloped far ahead.

Answer 6

change the letter ё to e (a whim of analytics) in a couple of places 4 hours.

This task will obviously be done by a freshly hired June. A couple of places is not always 2 places... Sometimes there are much more. After completion, your new team leader should probably check the result and, possibly, fix it in a couple more places. So the timing may well be adequate.
By replacing the senior with 3 juniors, you deliberately significantly slowed down the work of the team. I think that after such changes, it is possible to draw some conclusion about the suitability of a new lead no earlier than after 2-3 months of work.