[christophilus]

This is it. I have had a few really good managers in my career. They were game changers. When they came to me, they’d really done their homework and thought about the problem, or they hadn’t done it at all and were handing it off to me and giving me the contacts and support I needed to do my own research and own a thing entirely myself.

Outside of those managers, managers have been worse than useless. They’ve been an impediment to both me and the business (from what I can see).

So, in my experience, a good manager is worth every penny. All other managers are a net negative.

[RandomLensman]

In a lot of organisations the business side isn't necessarily incentivised to talk to tech, which causes a lot of issues. In good places, it's different and the development cycles work really well with an engaged business side. You still might want some manager in there to manage demands, conflicts, resources, etc.