I can sympathize with managers, especially in software product development. From an engineer's perspective:
Sometimes journeying down a neglected project backroad can seem a bumpy ride in the dark in a jeep. Then you get to the site of (one of) the latest imminent disaster on the project and look around. There are people here. Managers, spreading the word and being tactical: assigning recruits, re-routing energies and man hours, stirring the pot, raising the issue, getting the facts straight, solving the problem.
Developers and testers, seated in front of computers, some milling around, asking questions, poking fun, trying to help, trying to point out a flaw, defeat an enemy, impress a friend, get a promotion, a transfer, a raise, a vacation.
Looking over the situation, first I get judgemental: "Man, that whole thing is messed up. What a train wreck! Why didn't anybody bring this up sooner?" Blah, blah, blah. Then I ask lots of questions and click around to see what ground has been covered and what approaches have been considered and tried already.
Managers don't want to have to manage idiots. They want to have superstars to work with. And engineers want good managers. By "good" I mean technically savvy, thinking for themselves and getting involved in the action and daily interaction with engineers on the team. These are optimal qualifications.
There's a mix of people on projects, in my experience. You have your newbies, gurus, primadonnas, leaders, slackers, corn cobs and all the rest. A manager usually has to cope with a mix of these types and their concomitant benefits and problems. If you think you don't like working with some jerk, how does the manager like having to work with the guy? How does he like listening to you bitch about the guy on the team who bugged you all day with questions? No doubt the guy bugging you was also bugging the manager about how slow your ass was all day so he had to keep bugging you.
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