David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH)

Not every programmer needs a therapy session with an engineering manager every week.

We don't need these endlessly scheduled huddles.

We don't need all these meetings.

We just need to leave people the hell alone to work on problems that they enjoy for long stretches of uninterrupted time.

That is where happiness is found.

That's where productivity is found.

And if you can get away with it,

You absolutely should.

Engineering management is a necessary evil when that breaks down.

The case for managers is that if you do have a lot of people, there's a bunch of work that kind of just crops up.

The one-on-one is one example that programmers need someone to check in with.

There's another idealized version that someone needs to guide the career of juniors, for example, to give them redirecting feedback and all this other stuff.

And it's not that in the abstract, I don't agree with some of those things, but in practice, I've found that they often create more problems that they solve.

And

A good example here is can you get feedback from someone who's not better at your job than you are?

You get some feedback.

You get feedback on how you show up at work.

Are you being courteous to others?

Are you being a good communicator?

OK, yes, but you can't get feedback on your work.