Hrm, from your title and introduction, I was thinking you meant "managing" as in "lubricating a team of developers so they can do their jobs." You spent a lot of time watching wave soldering machines and cronjobs. In your earlier job you asked the folks on the shop floor how things were going. Is software any different? Have a chat with the developers to see how it's going from their point of view. (And if it's all your own code, what are you managing, exactly?)