If you are managing developer teams or departments a pet project may be a helpful tool to stay out of your developers hair and learn about the technologies used in your department without blocking your developers to babysit you. If you are like me and have a development background, you will want to get your hands dirty and start fixing bugs and implementing stories. However, this can have many negative side effects. Breaking established rules is easier in a leadership position and sets a bad precedent. By becoming a last instance for each technical decision you take away personal identification with the work of your engineers. It may also lead to distrust. With this talk, I want to share some of my experiences in that regard.