I did had a quick glance on Janet's Wong post  What's a Good Manager. I wanted to share a my point of view on managing developers. Right now, I can't say that I'm managing a lot of people, but it seems its quite true managing ppl is a tough job. I was a senior software engineer in my previous employer, with my current employer right now due to the fact that the company is still starting more or less I cover most of the bits and pieces of the whole IT department. From basic networking, being developer, doing the design and research and hiring people. Sometimes when I'm in the washroom, I'd thought of quiting the job. But on the 2nd thought I view it as a challenge and to make a difference.

To make a difference, that my people will not experience the bad things that I've experienced when i was a rank n file/developer.  

I may not be a perfect manager, but these are my thoughts and experienced being a developer from the past and know starting to manage a few people. I might be wrong in my thoughts.

01.) A manager must always in the middle between the company and the employees. In other words not a kiss-ass manager

02.) The power of delegation. Delegate tasks that you think that your ppl can do it, but make sure your always on top when the task is newly delgated to the person

03.) Determine the strong points of your ppl. This is a difficult task because you need matrices to determine its strong points. In development, I used to let them plot the approximate hours they think they can finish it and let them plot the actual hours work being done. Evaluate basing on the approximate and actual hours, why it is under/over estimated

04.) Zero tolerance for repeated mistakes and also for those probitionary employees 

05.) Appreciate and Acknowledge. Always appreciate and acknowledge developers who finish the job on time

Now even how good we are in managing our people, there are some of the people under us or outside the department doesn't like the way we manage them. All I can say, if it majority works fine in your group then its not your problem.

A techy guy got promoted in a managerial position usually happens on his late 20s and early 30s. Due to some company that has high turnover of ppl, that is why some of the technical manager are promoted in their early 20s. A developer that is good and highly skilled is not always the basis to be promoted in a managerial level. Which results then into company politics why so and so is being promoted not him/her.

In the end, the difference between a manager and a rank n file is the position and the pay. The common thing is they are employees in the company.