Structured Methods

In my posting about becoming a Scrum Master, I talked about teams with non-coding project managers often being more effective than teams with project managers who also code. It seems that that’s a minority view; most companies appear to assume that any project manager should also actively code. I agree that any project manager in the software industry should have a coding background; if you haven’t been in the line of fire for a customer deliverable, or a demo for a conference, then you don’t understand the needs of the coders on the team. You also won’t understand when they’re pulling the wool over your eyes, or making excuses because they don’t feel like doing some boring but necessary task.