[jjoonathan]

My best manager was my least technical manager. He was really good at getting the right work to the right people, controlling expectations, stopping the clients from burying us under requirements, stopping us from hiding behind poorly phrased requirements, communicating setbacks early to turn them into course-corrections rather than trainwrecks, and juggling lots of constraints and dependencies while planning and rescheduling. He wasn't even an interpersonal wizard, but he was really good at keeping his part of the organization running smoothly. Nothing fell through the cracks while he was in charge, and we were all better for it.

This lies in stark contrast to the three other managers I've had for any length of time, who have all been considerably more technical and considerably less good at those other things. They've been able to step in and help fight fires in a way that the above manager couldn't have, but they haven't been as good at keeping their part of the organization running smoothly. Thing is, the latter is a manager's job, and the former isn't.

I mostly see management and implementation as orthogonal skills, with the caveat that experience is industry-specific in both cases.