I wonder how those of you who became managers, how you became so?

Were you formally trained or did you come into the office one morning and realise that most of your colleagues were older than your album collection?

I suspect it is more the latter. Don't laugh, I have colleagues who were born AFTER the birth of CD's!

The problem is that, as a technical person you beaver away for a few years, get asked to guide less senior staff, become a lead developer, and final end up as a project manager or similar.

I have friends who are in the awful position of having gone down this path and found that their managerial duties mean that they have no time to maintain their technical skills. They end up in the position of becoming technically obsolete whilst not really having the qualities(?) for management.

They either have to learn the skills for management or get very good at the "Why did you leave your last position?" question.

The problem they face is that they can't go back. By the time you have walked the path you will probably have gained wife/kids/mortgage and need the managerial salary to support them. You can't say "Sod it, I'll work for the joy of the experience".

I don't know how it works in the USA but in Britain there is a horribly short sited attitude that demands a cheap temporary fix that lasts forever. This explains the British railway network.

The tendency is that managers do not get the training and back-up they need to do their jobs. No-one has grasped that a good manager is not born, he/she is created.

Natural talent will get you so far but its a long hard road to discover best practices from first principles.

What we need is for technical people who have become managers to be trained as managers. Get project management accreditation. Learn people skills. Read "How to win friends and influence people" and "I can see you naked". If your in a dark mood read any project management book by Edward Yourdon, "Death March" being a particular favourite.

One thing I have learnt is that, with very few exceptions, there are very few bright stars in the management world.

Remember, people get promoted to the level of their own incompetance, and we all know people who have excelled in this.