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Being aware of business reasons behind decisions is very important. I can think of two main reasons. 1. Poor translation of customer intent/business goals can lead to some terrible software because the real purpose of it is obfuscated. 2. Ability to comprehend which urgent deadlines are actually important and which are exaggerated.

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3. The ability to come up with an even better solution for a business problem.

In my experience, a lot of business people don't really know what is possible so their solutions aren't always that good.

Example: "I need to know if I own more than 3% of a company. Give me a report that tells me what percent I own of each company. " "How about a big flashing light or warning if you own more than 3% (or set it at 2% so you know when you are getting close) so that you don't need to spend time each day looking at the report."

The thing is, a truly great technical manager will sit in most of those meetings for you, and give you a digest.

You still want to interact with the customer whenever possible, but not so much so that you can't get anything done!

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