Resist The Promotion?

Dave Hoover wrote a piece about the need for Craftsmen to avoid accepting promotions in to management.

He argues that this takes away from 'joy in programming', and there is certainly something to that.

However, I think there is a more subtle aspect to this. 

I think that the really great engineering projects cannot be accomplished with technical talent alone, nor can they be accomplished using managers who are not also technical.

There is a vital need for managers who know technology, deeply.  This need can only be supplied 'from the ranks' of those who are technical.

Robert Oppenheimer is my favorite example of this, a brilliant physicist who was also a brilliant manager, at a time when brilliant management was needed.

A quote from Wikipedia, about Oppenheimer's involvement in the Manhattan Project:

Oppenheimer was noted for his mastery of all scientific aspects of the project and for his efforts to control the inevitable cultural conflicts between scientists and the military. He was an iconic figure to his fellow scientists, as much a figurehead of what they were working towards as a scientific director. Victor Weisskopf put it thus:

   

"He did not direct from the head office. He was intellectually and even physically present at each decisive step. He was present in the laboratory or in the seminar rooms, when a new effect was measured, when a new idea was conceived. It was not that he contributed so many ideas or suggestions; he did so sometimes, but his main influence came from something else. It was his continuous and intense presence, which produced a sense of direct participation in all of us; it created that unique atmosphere of enthusiasm and challenge that pervaded the place throughout its time."

I bet anybody would want a manager like that for their team.

Whether it's the Manhattan Project, the Apollo Project, or the IBM/360 Project, there has always been technical management at the helm, guiding these projects to success.

I really need to sit down and read the whole book, but Jerry Weinberg has a nice quote summing up the why of becoming a technical manager in QSM Vol 1:

"What we do have is dedication to a cause, and that keeps us going, even when we know we are managing poorly, or being managed poorly.  We know in our deepest way of knowing that computers can make a difference in the world-a difference for the good.  That's why we exchange
the fun and acclaim of programming for the agony and ridicule of managing; helping others use their programming talents to make a difference in the world.

So, Resist the Promotion, may be just the right thing to do at times.  But 'Accept the Promotion' also has its place.  It's a solution to a problem in a context.

Note

I think "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes illustrates the magnitude of Oppenheimer's accomplishments. Actually, there are much more important reasons to read it, from seeing how 20th century physics took shape to  seeing the human effects of the bomb.

Comments

[Robert Cowham]

It's late to comment but anyway: I was employed by a technically oriented company that bid for a foreign stock exchange contract. The competition was a consultancy who were very good at doing the high level relationship management. The client came back and asked for a joint bid - the technical parts of one and the management parts of the other. Of course this joint bid then happened and was awarded the job.

Down the line, the consultancy did their relationship bit and ousted the technical company. The project started to get into trouble. The reason seemed to be that their promotion policy was "up or out". People with good technical skills had to go into management to progress or they got shown the door as they became too expensive otherwise. The project foundered due to the lack of senior technical people.

Thus (IMO), companies must have a good career path for the senior techies (architects and similar) who can make or break a project.

One of the best project managers I ever worked for didn't seem to do much on a daily basis. Reviewing what happened I realised:

- he recruited a couple of excellent senior technical guys to make the project happen
- he recruited some excellent team members
- he ran high level intereference with both management of the client and the implementation company to make sure required resources (people and other) were available
- he left the project team alone to do the job

Result, extremely satisfied client and successful project.

Robert