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A boss sould have experience in coding so he can know about what he is managing. But he must have the full time to take decisions. An alternative to that is a intermediate who codes and manages at the same time, but he cannot be a decision maker, just a consultant to the real boss.
If boss means project manager, than he sould do both things at the same time.
SkullKiller
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Well, I've had Bosses that had no damn idea on development or maybe some theoretical knowledge in another language than the one used. It sucks, if you have to describe every little crap in order to get him (more or less) able to make a decision.
Strength in the Face of Adversity
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My boss has been developing software for more years then I've been alive, and that can be a great benefit. He understands how complex things can be, and can offer a great deal of support and a fresh aproach to difficult challenges.
The downside is that he isn't used to modern software development processes, and doesn't seem to understand the very high standards that users expect, preferring to quickly "bodge" things (which in the end can lead to a more expensive development cycle). Plus he's a old FORTRAN boy, the amount of time I waste trying to explain OO... sigh.
It all depends on the boss, it can be a great idea, but it can have it downsides too.
- Dy
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Always depends... i had a boss who really helps in the programming, but in general is a bad idea have a task list in programming; a boss should wath and control the development an help in the "real problems", that could be harder.
__
jjlopez
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Of course the boss must be an experienced programmer.He must also be active, because programming changes so quickly, if he/she isn't active they'll be out of date in only a year. This is a hard guy/girl to find because they have to have the discipline to spend on managing and not get sucked into 48 hour code-sessions.
m2
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Here is a better question...
How many PhD students do coding for their advisors?
All of them...why? Because an advisor (boss) realizes that the student is the labor force and they are the thinkers.
And professor also stay on top of current technologies...without getting their hands dirty.
Bosses that play both roles run the risk of being over-stressed very fast thus resulting in not just poor performance in coding, but poor managing.
So, no. It isn't a good idea. Look at academics, the model has been there a long long time.
B
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Hey man ... how do you think I learned to code (Fortran IV at the time, 1972)on an IBM card punch. It's not as simple as you infer. And to be frank, thinking is more important than coding (I hope most of us know that by now).
(If you're interested, I did my my Ph. D. in High Energy Particle Physics, Brookhaven National Labs in the mid 70's. Programming is a tool, just like weilding a chain-saw, and sometimes more impressive.)
My point is this, and it IS indeed a paradox: Programming is a technology and an "art" ... it is also a very volatile subject matter. Over the last 30 years, I've seen the landscape change from FORTRAN IV, Assembly (various now obsolete machines from CDC7600, IBM-360, Honeywell DDP516, F8 to 8080), even microcode (2910 based slice machines), RATFOR, C, Pascal, C++ and SIMD ... now the palete grows. OLE, COM, ATL ... dotNET ... try to keep up. If you stop programming ... you're out of date in 12 months.
SW "manager" or "boss" should really be a rotating responsibility. In fact for another reason than I've evoked so far. Managers ... pure managers of SW burn out in about the same time it takes them to get out-of-date. You know ... it sounds at bit Communist, which I'm not at all ... but it's like washing the dishes. Everyone should get their chance.
Anyway, I don't believe in academics.
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I would much rather have someone who keeps his fingers and mind up to date than someone who hasn't programmed for years (or ever).
How can someone who isn't experienced in programming practice be expected to manage programmers???
Also though - promoting good programmers to be bad managers is another bad option. This seems to happen all too frequently.
Dale Thompson
-- modified at 17:03 Wednesday 29th March, 2006
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Ideally, a good manager should also was a good (or average) programmer. But that is only happening in ideal world.
Sonork 100.41263:Anthony_Yio
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The worst possible option - manager with no programming experience!
WRONG.. I worked for a VP.. A WOMAN! Yes.. She had NO idea what a program was except that I did something with it... LOL.. She was GREAT! No nonsence.. If ya screw up.. Oh well...
I was and still am sort of touch with programming.. LOL.. I do it but just for fun.. I always expected my workers to do it RIGHT.. I just had enought sense to run the program and see if it 'Works for me!'
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"The boss" is something different in different companies/institutions.
As is the project structure.
So neither 'yes' nor 'no' for me.
As a side note - my boss is an ex-programmer with a faible for very outdated technology (statically linked MFC to escape the hell of DLL/COM) 
The product manager who sets the requirements is not a software guy.
"We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation."
-- Caius Petronius, Roman Consul, 66 A.D.
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Just wait for there to be 5 different versions of .NET out there, and your fun will REALLY begin
People that start writing code immediately are programmers (or hackers), people that ask questions first are Software Engineers - Graham Shanks
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Not a good idea that they (bossfella) be an active coder. Best if they were once a developer. We've all seen the pain when the boss is not a former developer or a wannabe.
A former developer will be familliar and versant in the issues and involved deeply enough in the project to be able to represent the issues to the 'higherups' and to moderate any ramifications that may result.
In effect, they are a qualified representative for the development team. After all, wouldn't you feel better knowing that one of your own was backing you at the management level?
B
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I agree. An active coder (boss) can get too far into the weeds and shirk off their responsibilty of being a buffer to the Project/Program Manager for project status. A good "boss" is one who does know how to code, but is also aware of their responsibility to guiding the other programmers to a viable solution.
The reason why a poor man will always be poor and the rich man will always be rich, is because the poor man will always maximize his expenditures and the rich man will always maximize his potential. --T.Parker
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Project/Program Manager
I was one.. I think they just made me that to have somebody to blame things on...
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If I'm the boss it's good, if I'm not it's bad, very bad.
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A boss that writes codes with a dev team is a good idea,it protects us from clients changing their mind asking for features that was never there also keeps the team more focused on the product. But it also makes him more aware of who is catching on sh*it all the team writing bad code ect... well i think thats a badie if u ask me.
J2ME / C# developer South African Developer from cape town
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Yes, it's a good idea if he is a good programmer. My boss writes an awful, unmanaged and unflexible code that I often
understand hard.
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Mad Hot Dog from Russia .. Geeeee. ya not so bad after all!
My neighbor is from Russia.. We drink alot together..
We have fun and enjoy life.. We never think of coding then!
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The boss should have some experiance with coding, but the main concern should be design, usability, testing, etc. A building architect understands how a hammer works, but doesn't need to actually use one regularly.
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Is the byline supposed to read "Others can't stand a micro-managing control freak."?
/ravi
My new year's resolution: 2048 x 1536
Home | Music | Articles | Freeware | Trips
ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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Yes I noticed that too.
"... This man is obviously a psychotic."
"We-he-ell, uh, I'd like to hold off judgement on a thing like that, sir, until all the facts are in."
(Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)
~ ScrollingGrid (cross-browser freeze-header control)
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Looks like the survey gurus have since fixed it.
/ravi
My new year's resolution: 2048 x 1536
Home | Music | Articles | Freeware | Trips
ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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If you want productivity to go up, then yes its a good idea. However if you want an easy time to make up excuses for why work is not done (IE you were spinning around in your chair for an hour) then its awesome to have a boss who doesn't know.
Take me for example, I was working on a PHP script once, but i decided to take a few hour break to do ummm.... things. When my boss asked why my progress was slowed i just quoted a line from the Star Trek TNG episode i just happened to watched an hour earlier. Something about a recursive algorithm..... She never could tell if i was telling her the truth or making up technal babble 
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