[tmp_anon_22]

> hundreds of new managers

Thousands of new managers. Think about that.

[lifeisstillgood]

what does a manager actually do in a software business these days?

[hiddencost]

At Google? Cross org coordination, identifying and prioritizing opportunities, work trading with other teams (you do this and I'll do that), communicating why the team's work matters to mid management that has no idea, helping engineers avoid pitfalls, helping engineers craft project portfolios and a narrative for promotion. Helping engineers develop the right skills to succeed at Google.

[summerlight]

Mostly glueing people around. Sounds like a mediocre job, it's as important as writing glue code. Not interesting, but most of the code written nowaway are glue code...

[adam_arthur]

Depends how competent the people they manage are. Anywhere from invasive micromanager, to "do little" figurehead that conveys information.

The best people don't need to be managed really, just alignment of direction, but there are far too few of them to depend on that at scale