I think this is a variation of the "should the project manager of a software project understand software" question, which I have thought quite a lot about over

I think this is a variation of the "should the project manager of a software project understand software" question, which I have thought quite a lot about over the years. The answer is yes because: 1. As mentioned above, it enables them to hire well 2. They can independently assess effort estimates 3. They can act as a more effective shield between the team and the users/customers/management 4. They can effectively referee technical arguments within the team 5. Problems are best solved not by throwing resources at the problem, but by intelligently rescoping, recasting, or refactoring. You need to understand software to do that. I think this is the most important item on the list. 6. Even sane well-managed projects have "all hands on deck" crunchtimes. The manager of a software project should be able to make themselves useful - if not code, they can debug, beta-test, document, manage releases, etc. 7. People give you their best work when they respect you. Technical people respect people who understand them,.