User: Lost in Code

Re:Only bad managers demand the impossible

On: Project Management For Programmers?

And if all else fails, find another job. Seriously. If the management at your place doesn't value you, get the hell out.

I wholly agree. I found myself in that situation once and switched jobs pretty soon.
Maybe it's a result of my experience, but I feel that technical knowledge should be required in a manager otherwise they tend to force ridiculous deadlines on you and tend to bypass "details" like code reviews and rigorous testing to get the project done on schedule no matter how ugly and unmaintable the resulting code is.
The suggestions you gave would be a way to combat this, but does that make a good work environment though? You are constantly at war with management. A manager who has been through the ranks of programmers would understand all the issues involved are and hence be a lot more sympathetic. I agree that a manager needs a wider skill set viz. project time and effort estimation, budgeting, maintaining team morale etc. but I think those skills come easier with a technical background (maybe not interpersonal skills though :)) and the insights gained from experience in the same area are very valuable.