What to Do When Your Manager Isn't Technical Enough

What to Do When Your Manager Isn't Technical Enough

The technical knowledge gap between engineers and their managers can create friction around priorities, estimates, and technical decisions. Managing this gap effectively is critical for both your success and the team's outcomes.

Assessing the Situation Objectively

Before developing strategies, honestly evaluate:

The actual knowledge gap:

• Does your manager lack specific technical knowledge but possess solid engineering fundamentals?

• Is there a gap in understanding your specific domain/language/framework?

• Do they understand technical concepts but struggle with implementation details?

• Is there a fundamental misalignment on engineering principles and practices?

The impact areas:

• Project estimation and planning

• Technical debt prioritization

• Architecture decisions

• Resourcing and staffing

• Performance evaluation

• Technical risk assessment

Your manager's awareness:

• Do they acknowledge their technical limitations?

• Are they actively working to build relevant knowledge?

• Do they defer appropriately to technical expertise?

Translating Engineering Tradeoffs Effectively

Engineering discussions often involve complex tradeoffs that must be communicated clearly to non-technical or less-technical stakeholders:

Use the "Three Horizons" framework:

1. Immediate impact: What will happen in the next 1-4 weeks?

   • "If we rush this feature without proper architecture, we'll ship 2 weeks sooner but introduce 4-5 bugs we'll need to fix immediately after."

2. Medium-term consequences: What will happen in 2-6 months?

   • "The shortcuts will require us to spend approximately 3 weeks refactoring this component by Q3, which will delay other planned features."

3. Long-term implications: What will happen beyond 6 months?

   • "Without addressing the underlying data model, we'll hit scalability limits at around 10,000 concurrent users, which our growth projections show we'll reach next year."

Quantify wherever possible:

• Estimate maintenance costs in engineering hours

• Project performance degradation with metrics

• Calculate the compound effects of technical debt

• Provide data on similar previous decisions

Use visual aids:

• Architecture diagrams showing bottlenecks

• Technical debt heat maps

• Performance trend charts

• Decision trees with probability estimates

Building Bridges Without Undermining

Addressing a technical knowledge gap requires strengthening your manager's position while ensuring technical excellence:

Make your manager successful:

• Provide simplified briefings before technical meetings

• Suggest questions they can ask to demonstrate engagement

• Create "manager versions" of technical documents

• Acknowledge their business insight contributions publicly

Create learning opportunities:

• Offer regular tech overviews relevant to current projects

• Share articles and resources appropriate to their level

• Invite them to code reviews with clear explanations

• Demonstrate new technologies with concrete use cases

Leverage their strengths:

• Ask for help translating technical needs to upper management

• Seek their insight on business priorities to inform technical decisions

• Recognize when business constraints should legitimately override technical preferences

Navigating Product vs. Technical Leadership Tension

When product priorities and technical considerations seem at odds:

Find the shared goal:

• Connect technical recommendations to business metrics

• Translate technical debt into business risk language

• Frame architectural investments as enablers of future capabilities

• Identify where technical excellence directly impacts user experience

Establish decision frameworks:

• Create a shared rubric for when to prioritize quick delivery vs. technical excellence

• Define thresholds for when technical debt requires immediate attention

• Develop a common language for discussing technical risk

• Agree on metrics that balance technical health and feature delivery

Build alliances:

• Identify other stakeholders who understand the technical implications

• Create consensus among senior engineers before escalating concerns

• Engage product managers in technical discussions early

• Build relationships with other managers who can advocate for technical needs

When to Escalate and How

Sometimes technical concerns must be elevated beyond your immediate manager:

Appropriate escalation scenarios:

• When decisions create significant security vulnerabilities

• When architectural choices threaten system stability

• When technical debt accumulation reaches critical levels

• When business commitments require technical context

Escalation approaches:

1. Inform your manager first about your concerns and intention to seek additional input

2. Frame as information-seeking rather than challenging authority

3. Present options rather than problems

4. Include your manager in escalation communications

5. Acknowledge business constraints while presenting technical realities

Personal Development Strategy

Working with a less technical manager can become a growth opportunity:

• Develop communication skills that will serve your entire career

• Build business acumen by understanding your manager's perspective

• Practice leadership by guiding technical decisions collaboratively

• Create documentation that bridges knowledge gaps for future team members