In another great blog post, Scott Berkun lays out his thoughts on what managers of programming teams should be able to do. You should read the whole article, as most concepts apply equally well to networking teams: if you’re a team leader, you should have decent knowledge of technology and its limitations, if you’re higher up the management chain, it’s more important that you can trust your people, work with them to reach good decisions ... and figure out when they’re bullshitting you.
Ivan Pepelnjak, CCIE#1354, is the chief technology advisor for NIL Data Communications. He has been designing and implementing large-scale data communications networks as well as teaching and writing books about advanced technologies since 1990. See his full profile, contact him or follow @ioshints on Twitter.
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Well imo, in an ideal world, a team leader is supposed to know specifics of the technology where the management needs to know the broader prospective of the technology. Having said that, management knowing the specifics will have a huge positive impact on the outcome.
ReplyDeleteHi Ivan, thanks for sharing this and introduced me to Scott Berkun. :-D
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the deputy CO for my squadron back in the USAF. He was a Major (O-4), but technically competent to an unusually high degree. It's a double-edged sword; at time it's invaluable to have a commander who knows precisely what you're talking about, but it also means you can't always get them to rely on your judgment as easily.
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