For everybody working as a programmer, this should be blatently obvious. Who hasn't experienced a non-programmer manager without a clue telling them what to do? I'll never ever work again for a manager who couldn't do my job, at least in principle.
Ideally they stay in touch with the programmers by continuing to program, occasionally but regularly. To not have their knowledge frozen in time the day they became managers. And to keep feeding their flame.
It's a necessary qualification, but not a sufficient one. The manager also needs to be a people person. Lots of programmers
are not, and that's ok, they can be excellent programmers. Just not managers.
In summary, a better title would have been "Turn the people persons among your best programmers into part-time managers".
Ideally they stay in touch with the programmers by continuing to program, occasionally but regularly. To not have their knowledge frozen in time the day they became managers. And to keep feeding their flame.
It's a necessary qualification, but not a sufficient one. The manager also needs to be a people person. Lots of programmers are not, and that's ok, they can be excellent programmers. Just not managers.
In summary, a better title would have been "Turn the people persons among your best programmers into part-time managers".