Yeah that's kinda my take too. A good manager should have enough knowledge to understand the field and be respected, but that's it. Putting your best technical

Yeah that's kinda my take too. A good manager should have enough knowledge to understand the field and be respected, but that's it. Putting your best technical person in this job would probably be a waste: - excellent biologists, physicists, computer scientists and so on, are rare. You should put them where they can yield the best results. Same for people with managerial qualities. - managing may requires qualities that are in conflict with excellence in a field. Juggling projects, building relationships or the will to play some political/administrative game may be very useful for a manager, but not necessary something an excellent developer or a surgeon would have maxed out as a skill.