FIRST time being Lead Programmer! (Pun intended)

[Tommy F.]

I'm assuming you already know what you're doing as far as how to use whatever language you are using to make a robot work. Being the lead then becomes teaching others what you already know, and to expand your knowledge further, since you don't really know some things until you can teach other people, and that's exactly what you need to do.

Keep your hands off the keyboard/mouse/input device once you've taught everyone the basics. Sit with them, point out things they may do wrong, and correct them while explaining why the way you did it would work.

If you don't know what's wrong, lead them to the direction where you may find the answer. I was the Software Lead on my team for the first time last year myself. I had many talks from my mentors last year about doing taking the computer and going everywhere super-fast to find out how to fix the problem we were having. Go to your other programmers, and ask them how they think the problem would be solved. Try it out and get them involved.

Assign roles. Everybody doesn't have to be working on getting the drive train code working. Have someone work on the drive train and another person work on the manipulator or testing the sensors to make sure they work properly.

The lead role may also put you in charge of how data is stored and backed up. Take the time now to find an effective way for you to backup your code. You don't want to end up having to do the same thing over and over again because you couldn't find where you saved it. Stay organized.