Great points, and no I don't think I've ever seen a humble middle-manager in my life - they're often preoccupied with people watching and old guard time and motion studies that getting actual work done!

I do agree that management needs a degree of flexibility, of those HR loved soft skills, after all dealing with people is a pretty demanding task.

What I don't like, and what motivated me originally to write the article, is management pushing through their decisions through the weight of their perceived seniority when they often have little to no understanding of what a (software engineering) company actually does and how it does it.

I really do wish that some of the toe-curling platitudes they extend to customers to sell product, or gain more hours for a project, could extend to the treatment of their own workers.

This is such a broad subject that I reckon we could both go on for hours!