I think the most difficult question to answer in software development is: what is the most valuable work we should do first. Developers, the customer, manageme

I think the most difficult question to answer in software development is: what is the most valuable work we should do first. Developers, the customer, management, they all might give different answers. And as far as I can tell the only true answer is: good communication. Agile does this with short waterfalls and stand-ups, but other methods also work well as long as there is communication. And I believe for most part this is where you can distinguish a good managers. Good managers feel when the developers need someting and feel when the customer want's to go in another direction. A good manager is a medium, not someone who dictates what the developers should do.