Robson took charge of Aberdeen as a caretaker boss in January this year when Jim Goodwin was sacked and helped the Dons to qualify for European football.
He was given the role on a permanent basis in the summer and the 44-year-old manager has continued to impress at Pittodrie.
Shinnie was one of the players who played with Robson when he was in the Aberdeen team previously and remembers how good a player he was.
But he conceded that he never expected that his former team-mate would turn out to be such a brilliant manager who is completely clear about what he wants from his team on the training pitch and during games.
The Aberdeen midfielder told Cinch: “I obviously played with the manager and that was very good.
“I didn’t really know what to expect as a manager and this is no disrespect to him but I didn’t expect to be as good as what it is.
“He is a top manager.
“He knows exactly what he wants, he knows his style, his training regime and he knows everything that he wants to do.”
Aberdeen are sitting sixth in the Scottish Premiership standings and are expected to improve over the course of the season under Robson.
