The intent of the "learn to code" sentiment is not actually to turn business people into 95th-percentile engineers, but rather to acquaint them with the particu

The intent of the "learn to code" sentiment is not actually to turn business people into 95th-percentile engineers, but rather to acquaint them with the particular challenges of the discipline. This helps them understand the engineers they are trying to manage, and better command their respect. As for "how much is enough", I would suggest that you should be able to hack together a prototype of whatever product you're trying to build. It doesn't have to be pretty, just show the interaction. I think with the tools available today, most people should be able to go from zero to something workable in six months or so.