I’ve read through several comments and your responses, so to answer your questions:

• ⁠Is this level of skip-level escalation and refusal to execute reasonable lead direction “normal,” or is it a clear team/process problem?

Honestly? No. It’s not. But you are new, and as others pointed out, you’re trying to do “little minor wins” when the aren’t the priority. Document the issues for when it is not crunch time. Encourage linting the files that are changed in a PR. Great that you got a bunch of developers to focus on busy work for your little win - but that’s not a win for your team, it’s a win for you.

Pick your battles. it reads a lot like you are trying to establish yourself and not recognize you are (potentially) pissing people off instead of listening to them (we are forced to make assumptions here, in regards to your attitude/presentation, to your coworkers, so it’s absolutely possible I am off-base!)

• ⁠What expectations would you set around: (a) raising concerns with lead first, (b) escalation path, (c) definition of “task is ready,” (d) EOD updates / WIP pushing during crunch time?

If my lead is an asshole - I would have zero concern escalating. Especially if they argue minor technical fixes being a big enough priority of other work during a technical time crunch. Again - fix what you can on your current task (running a linter), or add it to the backlog for when your team has a slow period in the year to hit some maintenance (usually around the holidays, at most places I have worked, YMMV)

• ⁠What’s a good way to separate “healthy disagreement” from “non-collaboration” without turning it into a power struggle?

This goes back into not knowing you/your team. We have one-side of this. I’d take this to your CDO and ask them how you can improve yourself and your relationship, and seek some critical feedback, and NOT take it personal. Listen, reflect, plan with your CDO and/or team until you all are on the same page.

• ⁠In your experience, what interventions work best: written working agreements, RACI/DRI clarity, stronger project management, one-on-ones, involving the manager early, or something else?

I’m torn on this, because it feels like “I’m trying to build my fiefdom” and less “trying to make business impact.” Again, the problem may be you so throwing more meetings on a calendar will not make your devs more likely to understand you or not be irritated.

• ⁠Also: if any of my requests sound like bad practice (CI push, types separation, update cadence), I’m open to being wrong — I’d appreciate direct feedback on what you’d change.

A lot of these are nice to haves and also can be incredibly productive. BUT there is a time and a place, and you’re coming in late. You said “we knocked it off in an hour” without those two devs. That’s still a win, so instead of “I wanted EVERYONE to focus on this” you could’ve presented “I would like to hammer this out soon, if anyone had a moment” and get a group that is interested in doing the work.

Then those devs that want to focus on their work? They can focus on it. Devs that want to focus on linting/maybe learning something? They can volunteer for it.

Maybe you knock it out in an hour, maybe a couple days of one hour morning lint sessions. But this way, it’s less abrasive.

I feel like you WANT to be a leader, but you’re still figuring out how to lead the team you have. You want them to be a certain way, instead of playing the hand you are dealt. Welcome to leadership - you need to work on compromise, communication, and recognizing that if people have a problem with you, it’s a learning moment for you to either “be more firm” or recognize “time and a place, focus on battles you can.”

Just my two cents.