Introduction
Finally serving under an excellent manager, I think it's good to note what the good characteristics are of a manager. Some of these are in fact, underpinned by psychologic research and management practice.
Characteristics of a good technical manager (that come to my mind right away)
- Happily married [ somebody tolerates this person outside of work on a regular basis ]
- Has actual hobbies outside of work
- Is also an individual contributor
- Sacrifices his comfort for the benefit of the teams serving under him
- Exercises, but not in a show-off way (disqualifies the weight lifters)
- Does not sacrifice technical excellence for profit
- Does not sacrifice business relationships for technical snobbery
The above isn't a checklist. There are plenty of people who will fake things from a list. Apart from the above there are some good indications you have a good manager.
Listens to your report
The sad reality is that a 99% of managers won't even listen past the second sentence of your report. If you're working on high-availability systems, there has to be dialogue.
Cares about getting you the resources and people to complete the task
This might be indirect, but it usually involves removing roadblocks. You might have to request the resources yourself, but the approval is there when you need something.
Does not pretend life outside of the company doesn't exist
Jamie Dimon also has said something along those lines on a youtube interview. "If you have to go deal with a personal thing, go deal with it."
Is willing to deal with the negative aspects of work
If it looks too good, it's not real. Slavoj Zizek arguments for looking for the dark side in almost everything. Cynicism is the lowest form of wisdow, but it's still right in some regards. If there's only showers of praise, something's not quite right.
Thinks in sentences longer than 5 words
Peter Thiel seems to think in long segments about matters, and Jeff Bezos is famous for the 6 page report. It seems to me that the actually smart managers are able to talk about a complex thing with a lot of clarity. Irreducible complexity is a thing.