Yes. It was great while it lasted. It was a 'sre/devops' team that had a supposed manager that had no impact (positive or negative) on the team. I say "while it lasted" because it's not sustainable. At some point you need someone to step in an separate two ego maniacs who have almost come to blows over difference of opinion. And you need to have some plan to grow the team (headcount and individual careers) or the happy-go-lucky sre/devops team that builds all the stuff and puts out all the fires get
fucked in the IPO and wonder where all their money is. "It isn't! You see, you're only an L3! How did you not know that?" "Well, because when they brought in levels, I assumed mine would line up with the hiring rubric for levels - and I make my impact on the company L6. I suppose I never checked, and nobody officially communicated it to me. I was head-down working on important stuff and loving my work". "Yeah, well they put you as a L3, and our team didn't have a manager who hired people or went through promotions (or any of that
boring stuff)".
Edit: I will say though - having no manager is better than having a shit manager. I've had so many of those, that I still look back at ^ that situation (until the dream ended) with fondness. We built some great stuff and worked well together.