How Non-Technical Managers Can Track What Developers Are Actually Building

You manage a development team. You're responsible for delivery, timelines, and making sure the work aligns with business goals. There's just one problem: you don't code.

During standups, developers talk about "refactoring the authentication module" or "migrating to a new ORM." You nod. You trust them. But you have no real way to verify that progress is happening or that the technical work matches what was promised.

This isn't about distrust. It's about doing your job. You need visibility into what's actually being built so you can report to stakeholders, catch problems early, and make informed decisions.

Code Summary gives you that visibility without requiring you to learn to code.

The Problem: Code Is a Black Box

For non-technical managers, the codebase is invisible. You can see commits and pull requests, but they're just cryptic titles and changed files. You can look at tickets marked "done," but you can't verify the work actually happened.

This creates real problems:

Progress is hard to measure. A developer says they're 80% done. Is that accurate? You have no way to know.
Technical decisions happen without context. The team wants to "rewrite the backend." Is that necessary? Is it a good use of time? You're relying entirely on their judgment.
Stakeholder questions are hard to answer. "What exactly did we ship last quarter?" You can list features, but you can't speak to the technical substance.

You need a way to understand what's in the codebase without reading the code itself.

How Code Summary Helps

Code Summary is a tool that automatically generates documentation for code repositories. It uses AI to analyze the codebase and produce human-readable explanations of what the code does, how it's structured, and how different parts connect.

For a non-technical manager, this means you can actually read about your codebase. Not the code itself, but plain-English documentation that explains:

What the system does at a high level
What components exist and what each one handles
How things have changed over time

When developers say they "refactored authentication," you can read the updated documentation and see what authentication actually looks like now. When they say they added a new feature, you can see that feature described in the docs.

It's not about micromanaging. It's about having a shared understanding of what exists.

Getting Set Up (It Takes 5 Minutes)

You don't need to install anything or touch any code. Here's the process:

Step 1: Create a Code Summary Account

Go to dashboard.codesummary.io and sign up with your email.

Step 2: Connect Your GitHub Account

You'll need access to your organization's GitHub. If you don't have it, ask someone on the dev team to either:

Give you read access to the repositories, or
Set up Code Summary themselves and give you access to view the generated docs

Click the button to connect GitHub, authorize the app, and you're linked.

Step 3: Install the Code Summary GitHub App

During onboarding, you'll install the Code Summary app on your GitHub organization. This lets Code Summary read your repositories and submit documentation as pull requests.

Select which repositories you want documented. Start with your main product repo if you're unsure.

Step 4: Generate Documentation

Once connected, you can generate documentation manually through the dashboard. Click the button, wait a few minutes while Code Summary analyzes the code, and documentation appears.

Going forward, Code Summary also runs automatically when developers open pull requests. Every code change triggers a documentation update, so the docs always reflect the current state of the code.

Step 5: Review the Documentation

Code Summary submits documentation as pull requests to your repository. You'll see a link to the PR where you can read through the generated docs.

The documentation lives in your repository alongside the code. You can read it directly on GitHub, or merge the pull request to make it part of the official codebase.

What You Can Actually See

Once documentation is generated, here's what you get:

Architecture Overview

A high-level description of how the system works. What are the main components? How do they interact? Where does data flow? This gives you the "big picture" that developers often assume everyone understands.

Component Breakdown

Explanations of individual parts of the system. What does the "user service" do? What about the "payment processor"? Each component gets documented so you can understand what pieces exist and what each one handles.

Change History

When documentation updates, you can see what changed. If developers rewrote the authentication system, the docs will reflect the new structure. Compare old and new to understand what actually happened.

Using This for Better Management

Here's how documentation translates to better management:

Verify progress is real. When someone says they added a feature, check the docs. Is it documented? Does the description match what was promised? This creates shared accountability across the team.

Ask better questions. Read the architecture docs before planning meetings. You'll understand enough to ask "how does the new payment system integrate with the existing order flow?" instead of just nodding along.

Onboard yourself to new projects. Taking over management of a team you've never worked with? Read their generated docs. You'll understand what they've built faster than any number of verbal explanations.

Report to stakeholders with substance. Instead of vague updates, you can point to actual documentation. "Here's what the system looks like now. Here's what changed this quarter."

Spot potential problems. Documentation reveals complexity. If a simple feature results in changes across 15 components, that might signal architectural issues worth discussing.

Keeping It Sustainable

A few tips to make this work long-term:

Merge the pull requests. Documentation only helps if it becomes part of the repository. Review the PRs and merge them so the docs are always available and up to date.

Read regularly. Skim the docs every week or two. You don't need to memorize everything, but staying roughly current means you'll notice when things change significantly.

Ask developers to explain discrepancies. If the docs say one thing and a developer says another, ask about it. Sometimes the docs need updating. Sometimes there's a misunderstanding worth clearing up.

Get Started

Ready to actually understand what your team is building?

Sign up for Code Summary
Connect your GitHub account
Install the GitHub app on your organization
Select your repositories
Generate documentation and start reading

You don't need to become technical to manage a technical team effectively. You just need visibility.

Code Summary gives you that visibility.