Managers are elite forces in their own galaxy (far, far away); however, when they attempt to reenter the development trenches they look like the clumsy 2nd generation Storm Troopers. There are two reasons why you will become a clumsy Storm Trooper when you become a manager:
1. You never were a Clone Trooper
2. Hard Skills: Don’t use ‘em - you lose ‘em
This common devolution can be handled in one of two ways: avoided or accepted.
Avoiding becoming that of which you hate is probably the most obvious. Keep coding. Work hard to relate to both sides of the business. Don’t let your skills slip. This sounds easier said than done, but it is necessary in being a great manager (as opposed to good).
Acceptance is a much harder thing to do. Most managers believe that they have been promoted because they are technologically superior! While this maybe true, this truth is only held for approximately 7 days max. Why 7 days? After 1 single iteration you no longer intimate with the code base and it’s not looking back…
