Technical Managers Must Be Hands-On

Musk insists that managers must be deeply technical and continue to do hands-on work. No pure management roles exist in his companies.

xAI. Musk requires AI leads to code; managers must spend at least 20% of their time writing actual code.

SpaceX. Engineers manage directly; there is no separate management track that doesn’t involve technical work.

Tesla. This integrated Tesla’s design and engineering, cutting silos and ensuring managers understand what they’re asking teams to do.

Musk himself codes personally — like the Twitter algorithms in 2023 — setting an example from the top. He believes managers who don’t understand the technical details make poor decisions and lose the respect of their teams.

Apply it. Mandate hands-on work for your management team — studies show this boosts innovation by roughly 25% and improves team morale.