I have never been a manager. That said, I have observed managers, and I have a fair idea of what bits I really appreciated, and what bits I didn't. This is coming from a programmer's perspective, so take it with a pillar of salt.
I like managers who:
- Shield programmers from the rigours of negotiating their own budget, staffing allotment, or equipment slice. Managers are there to make sure that we get what, in the context of what the company's trying to do, we need. If I need three more programmers to finish this project in six months, but my project isn't as important as someone else's, I expect my manager to figure that out (in concert with their managers) and let me know. That's most of what I really appreciate out of managers: they make the hard business decisions for me.
- Figure out the basic business requirements of the project at hand. It's really frustrating for me, a code monkey, to try to figure out what's best for the company in the terms of the problem I'm hacking on. I can do a damn good job with the tools I'm given, but if I don't know what to optimise and what to deprecate, I'm screwed. I know how to solve technical problems, but in general, I don't know how to solve business problems unless I have a lot of experience with my company. If I don't, it's my manager's job to make sure that I solve the right problems.
- Give me the support I need to get the job done. Whether it's another database, another server, or another programmer, it's usually best for my manager to find me the resources I need to get the job done. I could spend days arguing with the DBA about the best way to implement this billing system: if my manager says "this is the way we'll do it", even if it's not the way I'd choose, we're probably going to save at least half a day on that facet of the program, because he's going to tell the DBA "thou shalt".
In general, I'd say that managers are in place to streamline and accelerate their subordinates' tasks. If they can't do that, they aren't sufficiently experienced or trained.
At my last job, I had a very good manager in this respect.
About the only thing I'd have hoped for him to do that he didn't was run more interference for me against the upper echelons, but he may well have had his reasons. It was admittedly pretty cool to work for someone who'd say "We really need that board? Okay, I'll send them a cheque for twenty thousand and get it to you by the end of the week", and deliver.
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The hell with paco, vote for Erudil!