All too often development managers are such because they couldnt hack being a programmer. One of my previous managers had not coded in 8 years. And her last language of expertise was C in the Unix environment. When I worked for her, she was trying to manage an NT based web application on the enterprise scale! She joked about how she was "allergic" to coding, and basically did nothing for the project. Needless to say the project failed.
My point is that the best managers were once VERY capable coders, and, most important of all, STILL COULD BE.
A good manager is first a good coder (so he can relate to the staff he managers), second a good communicator (help translate techie talk to business speak for the stuffed suits), third a good filter of the politics and rumours, separating the fact from the BS and the relevant from the irrelevant.
If you want to be a good development manager, first establish a reputation as a good coder and you will gain more respect from those people you will manage.
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All too often development managers are such because they couldnt hack being a programmer. One of my previous managers had not coded in 8 years. And her last language of expertise was C in the Unix environment. When I worked for her, she was trying to manage an NT based web application on the enterprise scale! She joked about how she was "allergic" to coding, and basically did nothing for the project. Needless to say the project failed.
My point is that the best managers were once VERY capable coders, and, most important of all, STILL COULD BE.
A good manager is first a good coder (so he can relate to the staff he managers), second a good communicator (help translate techie talk to business speak for the stuffed suits), third a good filter of the politics and rumours, separating the fact from the BS and the relevant from the irrelevant.
If you want to be a good development manager, first establish a reputation as a good coder and you will gain more respect from those people you will manage.