My manager does what I think is the most effective form of middle management. He’s there to take on any blockers that I cannot solve myself. Otherwise, he just lets me do my work.

Though 9/10 times the blockers are created by other teams middle management 🙃. Either them not wanting to share their code, or them not wanting to work with me at all when it’s necessary to achieve my work. And yes it’s really as stupid as it sounds.