Davor, I was gonna let it go but .... I never was good at shutin up ;) The greatest strength a manager can have is delegation. And with that add the ability to best use the resources available . It seems you are telling me that : 1) You do not understand most programming concepts 2) You are not willing to learn. 3) You might not have the skill set to manage developers What does it all mean? Stop telling your programmers how to program! Seriously NOW. If you managed a group of doctors would you tell them that they could only use techniques that *YOU* understood, even if the were STANDARD and well known by others? That brings me to the other point , you have mentioned design patterns, did YOU read GOF Design Patterns? It seems to me that if you were to spend a week with the book you could grasp at least the gist of the major patterns.They are pretty simple and quite informative. You should at least speak the lingo of the field you manage in. If your guys occasionally do something and you feel lost, that is a sign you are normal. Oh yea and don't confuse programming idioms of various language with design patterns. Start cultivating a talent for setting clear goals and clear objectives , learn how to manage people and have better communication (that is two way) with your developers. Your job is to be a manager , so __manage__ your team , have the overview have the design concept have the long road in mind and then at the same time listen to your team and do what it takes to smooth the rough edges and move the project forward, don't fiddle the details unless needed. Set goals not details unless they are real restrictions. Life is full of real restrictions and so are most projects so avoid getting into the unrealistic and unreasonable. Let your talent make you look good and help them do it. This advice holds true for every field I can think of. Ignorance can be remedied with a book , but apathy sometimes needs a swift kick in the ass.
Hope you do well, M.E.Farmer -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
