My first experience with WOs was as XO for an MI company while a 2LT.  We had about a dozen warrants in my company (WO1 to CW4), and I also dealt with the battalion maintenance officer (CW2) and the brigade property book officer (CW3) on a regular basis.  While I had some bad experiences with one individual, they have generally been outstanding professionals who are dedicated to mastering and teaching their craft.  The one constant I have always observed is that they are passionate about what they do (even if they are a bit crusty in the delivery).

As the XO, I learned there is a fine line between formal authority and practical authority, especially with warrant officers.  While it’s true that many (most?) of them are not a fan of organized PT and other “Army” things, I would also argue that you will be hard pressed to find a significant number of regular officers with 10+ years of service who are not in command and don’t gripe about those things either.  (How many MAJs do you see at PT with their Soldiers in an HHC BDE unit?) The WOs I’ve worked with understand when things are requirements, though, and are generally supportive as long as you treat them respectfully and speak honestly.

With regard to handling the rank/experience balance, that is always going to be driven in large part by the personalities involved.  When I was a 1LT, I became the OIC of an Intel section that was currently led by a CW4 who was still going to be working there.  As part of taking over, the battalion commander sat both of us down in his office and said two things:  first he looked at her and said, “He’s in charge and he outranks you;” then, he looked right at me and said, “You’d be an idiot not to listen to her, and I won’t hesitate to move you if I need to.”  In general, we found our lanes pretty quickly with her setting the technical standards for operations and giving me technical advice, and I ended up interfacing mostly with the other sections and our higher headquarters.

My best advice when working with warrants is to always respect the experience they have in the field, and never indicate that a regular officer does not need to understand technical aspects of their MOS (i.e. if you are a 17A, don’t ever tell a WO that you don’t really need to know how a computer works at various levels).  They are a valuable resource and often provide a vast wealth of technical knowledge, but they will judge you by how much you care about your chosen area of expertise.