It is totally possible for a non-technical person manage a technical team well. There are even certain downfalls (trying to make technical decisions that they are not knowledgeable enough to make) that a manager with a technical background is MORE likely to make.
That doesn't mean this particular one is good at it, of course. But the role of management is often to manage external relations, with the non-technical world. They can either do that by having a few trusted technical direct reports who advise them, and they have the bureaucratic and political skills to manage relations with the outside world, or they can do it the other way. But virtually no one is good at both. The most important thing is if you are self-aware of which one you are not good at.
let's say this Cyber Security Minister has trusted subordinates who do actually understand the technical aspects. how do they even begin to communicate with a person who's never used a computer? purely in metaphors?
there needs to be at minimum some common language between managers and what they're managing. otherwise it worse than broken telephone.
without a certain level of understanding, it's just a useless abstraction level for the sake of filling a govt position.
In a more sane situation the minister would read up to gain some basic literacy in the field, the fact that he hasn't is strong evidence that he is an idiot.
But you can be an idiot regardless of experience, and selecting an idiot as minister is arguably the graver error.
>How do they even begin to communicate with a person who's never used a computer? purely in metaphors?
They don't. It's a bureaucracy, not a meritocracy. The first business of a bureaucracy is to maintain the bureaucracy, and the second business of a bureaucracy is to reward party loyalty, and the third is for the bureaucrat to maintain and enhance personal power.
He will listen to people of his own social class and party whose word and sponsorship lends political merit, take orders from above, and his subordinates will do as they're told.
Why would they need to understand any technical aspects? Ultimately it comes down to making a decision between several alternatives, those alternatives have tradeoffs. If the technical people can't explain what those tradeoffs are in terms the non-technical decision maker can understand, then either they don't understand them themselves, or they aren't worth being concerned about.
> It is totally possible for a non-technical person manage a technical team well. There are even certain downfalls (trying to make technical decisions that they are not knowledgeable enough to make) that a manager with a technical background is MORE likely to make.
That doesn't mean this particular one is good at it, of course. But the role of management is often to manage external relations, with the non-technical world. They can either do that by having a few trusted technical direct reports who advise them, and they have the bureaucratic and political skills to manage relations with the outside world, or they can do it the other way. But virtually no one is good at both. The most important thing is if you are self-aware of which one you are not good at.