[chenning]

Would you classify someone like Linus Torvalds as a manager and an individual contributor? I see a lot of obsession with pigeonholing and defining roles with zero degrees of freedom. "A manager needs to stop doing ____ and needs to start doing ___". Who's making these definitions? I know plenty of small business owners who are quite successful at wearing both hats. I personally don't have a problem if someone out there decided that in order to be an effective leader they have to abandon their previous responsibilities entirely, but I don't see how that becomes a universal rule. Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't make it right and no longer worth looking at.

[sidlls]

About Linus: no; he's an architect.

The small business owner very likely has to wear more than one hat due to the size of his staff. This discussion is in the context of an organization likely much bigger than most small businesses of the kind you describe. The organization is inside a company that is in turn bigger. I don't think that a direct comparison useful.

[stackdestroyer]

Agreed - my situation is currently a team of 20, but previously up to 75 in my org. I work for a mid-sized company that's ~2500 people in total.