Reading through the responses here there seem to be 2 kinds of ways to look at things: 1. Manager needs to be the most knowledgeable, and steer the team with t

Reading through the responses here there seem to be 2 kinds of ways to look at things: 1. Manager needs to be the most knowledgeable, and steer the team with the correct decisions. 2. Manager cannot be close to the code due to other responsibilities, and so needs to trust their team for the technical things. Personally I have the following opinion: a lot of companies can follow 1, since once you know how to flip burgers, you know. The smarter people rise and can have more influence. However in knowledge work, the people most knowledgeable are close to the code. When you move up, you will know less and less (code evolves quickly). I'm 20 years in the software development business, and I only work for managers that understand they don't know, and trust & empower their team to take the right technical decisions. It really surprises me that some developers here think differently.