What does the shift from developer to team lead really look like? Markus reflects on stepping into leadership, supporting the team, and why reliable device software matters directly to the customer experience.
I’m Markus Laatta, and I started at Grundium as a software engineer working on Ocus products nearly five years ago. Before that, I worked with various embedded systems, server software, and wireless communication systems. Due to the company’s rapid growth, about a year ago there was a need to split the teams, and I had the opportunity to take on the role of Team Lead.
In my experience, Grundium places trust in people and provides opportunities to develop, grow, and advance in one’s career.
The team lead role is quite different from my previous positions. In this role, the human aspect becomes emphasized in new ways, and instead of focusing on individual projects, you have to think about the bigger picture. The well-being and endurance of team members must be taken into account. Grundium has supported the new role by providing helpful training.
Regardless of whether we are working on current or upcoming products, one of the most important tasks is ensuring product functionality and reliability before delivery to customers. Our products are essential tools for our users, and we want to guarantee that these tools work.
Developing software for complex systems is rarely easy. A solid foundation for a software project starts with requirement specification and understanding user needs. In large projects, the need for automation, documentation, and streamlined processes is even more pronounced.
We want our people to be able to use their skills and continue developing professionally. If someone is interested in a particular upcoming task, they will most likely have the chance to work on it. It’s also not unusual for people to cross team boundaries within projects. Support and help are always available.
In my view, it’s essential to acknowledge so-called small successes. Product development is often the kind of work where even something that sounds minor may take an unimaginable amount of time and effort. It’s important to recognize progress and small wins along the way – not only at the end of a project milestone.
Software development is continuous learning. In one of our projects, the role of the Python programming language has been significant. I’ve become much more familiar with Python’s virtual environments, dependency management, and packaging.
We plan and document projects in an Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) platform, where we also use informal wiki pages. Our code changes are traceable in the ALM system, and in code changes we aim to clearly describe what was changed and why. All code changes also go through a code review, which is an excellent opportunity for knowledge sharing.
In addition, we have project and team meetings where information and expertise are shared.
At least for me, working in MedTech feels inherently meaningful. Grundium’s mission is to make advanced digital pathology accessible to everyone. Digital pathology plays a key role in modern patient information systems and enables reliable diagnosis. I believe that contributing to this mission is meaningful regardless of one’s specific role.
We tackle challenges together, regardless of team boundaries. We are willing to take calculated risks without fear of failure. And no matter the role or title, you can always tap anyone on the shoulder for help.
In this industry, a quality-focused mindset is essential. The goal is to deliver a product that works reliably. In addition to software expertise, it can be beneficial to gain knowledge in areas such as biotechnology, signal processing, or medicine more broadly, though none of this is a requirement for success in the field. A strong motivation and a willingness to learn can go a long way.
