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As the title says ...
Are there core management skills that every manager must have in IT development regardless of the size of team ?
Also, is there any authoritative source I could use as a reference to these core skills for management while talking to a friend of mine who happens to be a manager ?
An IT manager's job is largely to buffer the team from administrivia and mis-prioritized requests so they can be most productive, to keep them aware of deadlines and help adjust priorities so those deadlines can be met or negotiated, and to keep them aware of how they are being evaluated and what they could be doing to improve their evaluations and advance their career.
Technology and domain expertise definitely help. But you don't have to be an expert on all of it; you need to understand enough to know whether folks are giving and getting good advice and making good progress toward the organization's share goals.
Engineer's respect expertise, and being an expert manager (interpreted as helping them produce the best and most valuable work they can) is a legitimate specialty.
Managing IT workers is equivalent to herding cats. They will do whatever the hell they want to do at the end of the day. It may look like they are following a guideline, but to the point that they can get away with.
Consider this: IT workers are generally highly educated with analytical skills. Management wants strict control. Two can not coexists in the same place. Instead of managing IT personnel, my philosophy for IT line managers is to be more of project managers. You can explain these people (i.e. myself and my coworkers) that, if the deadline is not met, there will be no funding and they might not have jobs come next month. They understand the cause and the consequence. But if you approach like "you work for me and I say you will do it like that, so we can make the deadline" they will laugh at your face and probably do the opposite, just to spite you.
There is a manager's dilemma here: you can only manage people (forcefully if necessary) who are less capable than you are, but you want to work with people who are much smarter than you are, for your project's success. You can not have both. You can not have your cake and eat it too.
"authoritative source": I could point you to "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams", an amazon.co.uk link here. Something more recent/popular that many people are talking about is the lean movement so you might want to check "The Lean Startup".
I suppose that you are interested in the dissection of IT manager minus "generic" manager. From my experience:
Good luck, hope I helped.
Agile methodologies are very common in IT/Software development. If your company uses Agile, the main management skill you'll need is 'servant leadership'. Your main role is to remove impediments and resolve conflicts (if the team is unable to do so). You want a self-organizing team, but may need to step in on occasion as your team evolves (goes through storming-norming-forming-performing phases).
Soft skills are typically needed to be successful in servant leadership (the people doing the work need the technical skills), but it would be useful to have speaking/passing knowledge on the technology stack, and a basic understanding of the business rules of the projects your team is working on.
The following is more specific to SCRUM (a single Agile methodology) but has some decent information: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/agile-project-management
The old adage about managing IT people is like herding cats is 100% accurate.
We are very much like cats in many ways: We are intelligent, independent, easily riled, and/or disturbed. If you're demanding you get nowhere, but if you are patient, you can have a real asset.
Strong (as in Herculean) interpersonal skills are a must. In many cases people who are drawn to IT, or are skilled in it do not have much in that department, so you're dealing with people who are easily offended, and quick to anger who work in a high-stress environment which exacerbates those traits. If you have those strong skills and get the IT folks to believe you have their back, they will work their backsides off for you.
Chances are, when you call a meeting, you will be the dumbest person in the room, which is as it should be. This is not a problem until you try to explain the business's position to them. Ironically, despite being quite intelligent, they won't understand the perspective of the business, so no small degree of patience is required as well. If you have a good relationship with your team, they'll complain, but meet or exceed your expectations, but you need to be patient. Just like a cat, IT workers won't be too eager to do things they don't understand or don't feel like are in their best interests.
Leadership skills: Be an expediter, not a commander. Have a clear path and a cat will follow you room to room, maybe not taking the path you expect, but the cat will follow. Try to push the cat from room to room, and you'll get scratched and bitten. IT workers will not be pushed around. Many of us grew up as geeks and nerds and have a visceral reaction to anyone we feel is trying to bully us.
