Should managers still code? - by James Stanier

This question goes around a decent amount and different leaders have different perspectives of course. The culture of your technology team gets driven in a big way from stuff like this. I did like the difference Stanier makes with "in the code" and "write code".

Should managers be in the code? Yes, absolutely.

Should managers write code? Maybe, but it also depends on what you mean by writing code.

The article has a list of "in the code" statements that make a lot of sense to me. Critical in this is a scenario I think is very important — if a leader (at any level!) in a technology team praises the solution to a problem, they better have the means to know if it is praiseworthy as a solution. If a manager isn't "in the code" how could they possibly determine the quality of their team's work?

I think they can be able to write code, but I always highlight that it stops at taking sprint points. A manager should not be pulling stories out of the backlog and executing. At that point they are not adding a multiplier to their team, and not doing what they need to be doing.

I will also comment that managers writing code can be a red flag, a reason for serious concern. For many managers writing code is fun, and dealing with a personnel matter is not fun. As an engineering manager make sure your not resorting to coding because it is comfortable, and you are leaving a much more impactful problem unresolved.