How to Work with Developers: A Business Leader's Guide to Maximising Tech Team ROI

How do you work with people who do jobs you cannot comprehend?

I learned this the hard way. When I started my first tech company after my Chicago Booth MBA, I nearly caused rebellions by doing things I thought were what good leaders do.

Read this if:

• You've requested a "small change" only to be told it would take weeks
• You've nodded along in technical meetings, pretending to understand
• Your expensive dev team seems annoyed by simple status updates
• You feel like you're speaking completely different languages

Developers Actually DO Have Different Minds

I was sitting at a dinner party next to a psychiatrist recently who told me people with very mathematical, engineering brains are actually wired differently. This makes sense: I would rather have a root canal than sit alone in a room writing code all day.

What makes the coding brain so different?

When developers write code, they juggle complex mental models in their heads.

This is like writing a novel with dozens of intertwined storylines. Unlike novelists who can get away with small inconsistencies, if a developer forgets something they wrote a month ago, the whole system crashes.

That's why developers need uninterrupted focus time.

You wouldn’t expect J.K. Rowling to create Harry Potter while being interrupted every half an hour, so give the same focus time to your developers.

The "Maker Schedule" vs. Your Schedule

Paul Graham (Silicon Valley royalty and Y Combinator co-founder) wrote a famous essay about this. Managers work in one-hour blocks, but developers operate on what Graham calls the "maker schedule" – they need half-day blocks at a minimum.?

Thus, a single meeting can destroy an entire afternoon by breaking it into two pieces too small to do anything substantial.

The worst thing you can do as a CEO is put meetings randomly throughout a developer's day.?

If you have a meeting at 11am, developers can't start anything meaningful at 9 am knowing they will be interrupted.

A 30 minute catch up at 11 am can destroy a very expensive employee’s productivity for half a day. You don’t want that.

Top vs Mid-Level developers

The productivity gap between top and mid-level developers can be 15 TIMES or more.?

This is why I recommend that you hire the most expensive developers you can afford. Those higher salaries often deliver exponentially more value.

The same goes for equipment: don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.

A faster computer genuinely makes developers more productive, whereas for me, a super fancy Mac is just a status symbol. ?

Quick Do's and Don'ts

Do:

• Hire the best developers you can afford (remember: 15x more productive!)
• Give them the equipment they ask for
• Schedule meetings back-to-back instead of scattered throughout the day
• Provide long, uninterrupted blocks for focused work

Don't:

• Pop in with "quick questions" or spontaneous ideas
• Expect them to context-switch easily
• Schedule status meetings during prime deep work hours
• Assume that the developer's laptop shouldn't be more expensive than the CEO's

Learn more here

In my latest Tech for Non-Techies podcast, I share more lessons on how to work with developers effectively and get ROI on your tech team investment.

?? Listen to the full episode here:

• Apple
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Amazon Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Pandora

If your organisation is experiencing friction between business and technical teams, we can help.

Tech for Non-Techies offers corporate training specifically designed to:

• Bridge the communication gap between your business leaders and development teams
• Create effective product management processes that respect both business goals and developer workflows
• Establish sprint planning frameworks that keep everyone aligned and productive
• Train your business leaders to collaborate effectively with technical talent

This training is particularly valuable for companies going through digital transformation, launching new products, or experiencing delays in development timelines.

Book a discovery call here to discuss your team's needs.

Speak soon,

Sophia Matveeva