Can a Manager Be a Techie and Survive?

Computerworld - I’ve written before about balancing technical and managerial skills, and it’s a question I’ve thought a lot about over my entire career. Back when I was young, inexperienced and terrible at supervising, with very little in the way of technical skills, my primary goal was to “get technical.” I was often told in my personnel evaluations that I had some work to do to earn the respect of the technical people I managed. I took that advice to heart.

Years later, I am still managing people, projects and processes, but I am the senior technical person in the group. That doesn’t mean that I know everything. No one can. But in the security arena, I know my stuff, down to every bit, byte and command line. Apparently, some people think that’s a bad thing. I’ve heard some people say that good managers should not be technical at all.

I don’t agree. My career experiences have led me to believe that those who manage techies must have a blend of managerial skills, business smarts, top-notch technical skills and integrity in order to be effective. I have admired the managers I have had. They were all very good business people who had sharp technical skills. If I was stumped on something, whether it was a technical or managerial matter, I could ask them for help.

Through their examples, I have learned to be a manager of both people and projects while keeping my hands on the technology. Today, in the state agency where I work, I still take charge of some technical projects alongside my management responsibilities.

Can’t be done, you think? It can, though it takes practice.

For example, this year I hired a few people and prepared several management reports, including an information security plan, a disaster recovery plan and an information security self-assessment. I prepared the budget forecast, managed 25 projects and a team of IT and security people, and designed and deployed an intrusion-detection system agencywide. Right now, I’m working on the firewall design, including a VPN strategy. And I’m configuring the devices and installing them. I’m not blowing my own horn. I’m just saying that it’s possible to both manage and participate in technical projects. Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive. Switching Gears

The key is learning to “time-slice,” which allows me to smoothly switch gears and focus. Admittedly, there are some days when it can be difficult to do. But a colleague once said to me, “I can’t believe the speed at which you can mentally connect and disconnect.” That might have been her way of saying that I needed to slow down and pay attention to what she was saying, but to me it meant that I had almost mastered the ability to switch gears.