Even McDonalds managers can flip burgers. You cannot manage a system unless you are at least partially involved in its operation. Managers should not be writing

Even McDonalds managers can flip burgers. You cannot manage a system unless you are at least partially involved in its operation. Managers should not be writing code all the time, but they should have a basic understanding of what the people under them are doing, otherwise they are completely dependent on other people to make decisions for them (in the best case, in the worst case they ignore everybody else and use their gut instinct).