He doesn't have to earn technical respect. If he's a good manager, he doesn't need to handle the technical side. Managing people is an entirely different skil

He doesn't have to earn technical respect. If he's a good manager, he doesn't need to handle the technical side. Managing people is an entirely different skill set, one that has little to do with understanding the technologies and more to do with handling expectations, providing a buffer layer between the team and everyone else, etc. I'd much rather work for someone who handles those things very well but has nothing more than a high level understanding of the underlying technologies. Agile can be two things. It can be a development methodology and it can be a project management methodology. Being good at one does not imply being good at the other. I work with people who are geniuses at managing agile projects but that couldn't code their way out of a shoe box with 3 sides cut out. It's their ability to manage that is important, not their technical chops.