I consider myself both a business guy and a programmer. But I'm probably different from most of the people here on HN in that I see myself as a business guy first and a programmer second. My day job is very business-focused (albeit with a technology bent to it) and I hack as a hobby; I've never been a professional developer. I do find that rolling up my sleeves and taking on a small part of a project is a good way to get the guys who work for me to see me as more than a PHB barking orders.
I don't feel the skill sets are mutually exclusive: these days, a good business person should have a deep understanding of the technology. A lot of the approach you take to problems is the same as well: when doing a financial analysis of a company, I often treat the company like a complex system. Business units are modules, projects are data objects and budgets are your resource constraints. Enterprise architecture (i.e. how a business is structured) is the same skill set as technical architecture, only you understand a bit more about motivating people.
Honestly, finding both in one person is rare though. Too many business people go the PHB route and intentionally are ignorant about the details so they can be "big picture guys". Too many programmers just tunnel-vision on technical problems without understanding or caring why things like metrics and reporting are important. Business guys are terrified of being too specialized and technical guys don't want to be "that guy" who doesn't understand anything. It's a hard niche to put yourself in though.
I don't feel the skill sets are mutually exclusive: these days, a good business person should have a deep understanding of the technology. A lot of the approach you take to problems is the same as well: when doing a financial analysis of a company, I often treat the company like a complex system. Business units are modules, projects are data objects and budgets are your resource constraints. Enterprise architecture (i.e. how a business is structured) is the same skill set as technical architecture, only you understand a bit more about motivating people.
Honestly, finding both in one person is rare though. Too many business people go the PHB route and intentionally are ignorant about the details so they can be "big picture guys". Too many programmers just tunnel-vision on technical problems without understanding or caring why things like metrics and reporting are important. Business guys are terrified of being too specialized and technical guys don't want to be "that guy" who doesn't understand anything. It's a hard niche to put yourself in though.