[solardev]

> A software engineer's responsibility is to design, build, test, monitor software while an engineering manager's responsibility is to oversee the team, projects, resources and stakeholders.

I think much of the frustration comes when a EM ONLY manages upwards with no regards to their direct reports. It creates a situation where the engineers are responsible for implementing decisions and patterns that they had no power over (often repeatedly warned against, to no avail) because that EM is bottlenecking their feedback and selectively reporting up to make themselves look good, sacrificing their team. In companies without skip-step reporting (where direct reports give feedback on the EM to their boss, once a quarter or whatever) this can lead to a death spiral where all the engineers are unhappy with a EM but there's no mechanism to remove them or complain to the higher ups. It just leads to mass dissatisfaction and group resignations, but even then there's no guarantee the EM will be removed if the higher ups don't know it's because of them.

That sort of strict top-down hierarchy just doesn't really work in software dev when the engineers have more technical savvy than their managers, and yet are constantly overruled and silenced in the pursuit of political points.

[gardenhedge]

I agree with your broad point but the hierarchy is there on purpose.

[solardev]

Yes it is, but it should also have feedback systems where underlings can review their superiors. Hierarchy doesn't have to mean that underlings have nothing valuable to contribute.