From an interview with Kent Beck and Tom DeMarco:

Kent: … I think of managers as people with more experience, a broader perspective, perhaps more wisdom about what’s going on and good people skills. And looking at the connections between if a manager has nothing better to do than to come and tell me I haven’t written enough tests that day — to me, that’s not a lot of value to be added there. That’s not about me and my relationships to other people or the team and its relationships to its customers and suppliers. I mean to me that’s where the value of having somebody with a step back with broader perspective is.

Tom: I think the key phrase here is, if the manager has nothing better to do. I think if you replace that with, if the manager has nothing easier to do, then that would lead you a slightly different direction. Because coordination is the relatively easy thing, what Cindy was talking about is managers could manage, that’s hard stuff, that means involves motivation, it involves interpersonal relationships. So I think that is the distinction between real managers and imposters who find themselves pushed into that position and end up looking for the easy stuff to do. And the easy stuff is what people will do on their own if you don’t do it.

That’s what it’s all about.
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