[SAS721]

Personally I have found that a great manager is worth their weight in gold. Breaking down barriers, navigating red tape and bureaucracy so the team doesn't have to, helping keep the team happy. And most importantly being and advocate for the team to the larger organization. I feel that advocacy role is often overlooked. A great manager will make sure the powers that be know who is doing great work, what the team is up to and ensure they get the credit they deserve.

[pm]

All those functions can be performed without the manager needing to be higher up in the organisational hierarchy.

[eitally]

And at places like Google, this is how it does work (on paper. In practice there are always exceptions, either due to actual hierarchy or individual charisma). If you look at Google's org, you essentially have 4 ladders: 1) Engineering, 2) product management, 3) business, 4) G&A superstructure. You can bet that if you're a PM trying to decide roadmap priorities, you're going to be driven by input from engineers primarily, not customers, sales reps or professional managers.

[SAS721]

Certainly, and in some of the places I have worked with a good manager, they were not necessarily considered "higher up". These companies had separate technical vs manager tracks in some form or another. So the notion of "higher up" depended on the track you are on.