I’ve run into this question on a number of occasions and have seen some pretty hotly debated conversations on the topic. Should development managers be expected to write code as part of their job?
My feeling is that the manager is in place to manage, not to develop. In smaller companies, it might be fine for the manager to do a little coding here and there, especially when used as a training tool for new developers or those experiencing problems on a particular project. But in general, the manager needs to manage.
“Managers don’t need to be experts – they need to be great at getting functional value out of experts of any kind.” – Scott Berkun
Scott Berkun has a great post that talks about this in detail. Whether or not managers should know how to code depends on a couple of scenarios, says Berkun:
- A: “If you are exclusively a manager of software developers, then yes, you should probably still know how to code and have a programming background. But only a small percentage of your working day (5-20%) should be spent writing code. The larger your team, the smaller this number should be.”
- B: “If you are your management role is more general, say a project manager or a team lead, but you do have programmers working with or for you, then knowing how to code is less important. You probably have a background in business, or marketing, or have worn many different hats in your career.”
Either way, Berkun lists a number of bullets that set the foundation for any good technology manager.
What’s your approach when hiring development managers? Do you expect them to spend some portion of their time developing? We’d love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts in the comments.
