Should IT Managers code?
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It's actually a good question[^]. If managers doesn't what his/her underlings create, does that make them a worse manager?
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]
My best manager did not know how to code at all. He discussed target dates and requirements with me before committing to anything, then let me manage my own development process. My worst managers knew how to code once to some degree, but did not keep up with current development processes or capabilities with our systems, so often made unreasonable demands and "standards" that they would not budge on, because they thought that they understood things that they really didn't understand. In spite of my experience though, I would like a manager who understood what I was talking about, but flexible enough to see that things change and that it would be best to adapt.
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I believe you're referring to the Dilbert principle[^]
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]
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It's actually a good question[^]. If managers doesn't what his/her underlings create, does that make them a worse manager?
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]
Whenever possible why not code, but the manager side of the role has to come first. By this I mean that if someone in the team has a problem or a question, you have to deal with that first, because by resolving that problem you are freeing them up to do their work. And that is where the difficulty lies, because if as a manager you are working on a critical coding task, you have to leave that to deal with the problem or questions or help that is needed by team members. I therefore find it best when I am working on non critical coding tasks that are of lower priority of that than team members are working on. This way I keep my coding skills up to date and am able to put the coding task on hold when a team member needs help.