[jbuss]

> these slick guys come in and take all the credit for the work of the engineering and design teams.

The PMs that take all the credit are bad PMs. The best PMs I've worked with do a ton of behind-the-scenes work and give all the credit to the team. Having a PM that takes care of...

> analytics, user feedback, market trends, business concerns, etc.

..will boost productivity for any engineer or designer.

[guelo]

But when you "boost productivity" by taking away ownership of the product you're trying to turn the engineers into code monkeys that implement your wishes without too much questioning. In reality it decreases productivity because you've taken away a big part of the fun of building things, the connection with the users and the business. And it drives away the better people.

[pmcgrathm]

To be fair (and I am not trying to defend these 'Slick guys'), sometimes there is a lot more happening behind closed doors that a PM might let on. Fights for resources, maintaining a current team, hiring, ownership, etc.

Oftentimes those people trying to portray a 'Slick' exterior are doing so due to the need to portray a sense of success/confidence for their team, to make sure they retain their existing budget and that the team doesn't get moved to other projects or terminated entirely.