(And if it's all your own code, what are you managing, exactly?)

Good point. Software development is kind of a Zen thing anyway .. all this stuff is imaginary. And it's difficult for a sole developer to look at his own code, trying to find problems or solve a bug, because it's like looking in a mirror.

When I walked around the factory floor, I *was* managing -- even got addressed as 'Sir' at one point by a guy half a dozen years older than me (I looked over my shoulder, then realized he was talking to me). My title was still Junior Design Engineer, but if I reported a problem or suggested a solution, I'd discuss it with the real managers, and the change would get made.

Watching the log files recently, I was trying to detach myself from my 'developer' persona and take on a 'consultant' or 'manager' persona and watch for any anomalies in the behaviour of the application. Any problems I found I entered into the bug database, for my co-worker the SysAdmin, for the Director of Deevlopment and for the CTO to look at and ponder. After a suitable period of meditation, we'll decide what's important and/or useful and I'll go ahead and make those changes.

It's tough being a development department of one, because although you do get to do the cool stuff, you also have to do the grunt work and 100% of the support. But my job continues to be amusing and intriguing, so I guess I'll be here for a while.