Great insights. I am struggling with the IC vs. management track since the general wisdom is only the management track has real decision making power. I didn't consider that the real thing a manager has to affect change is _influence_. You don't need to be a manager to be influential.
I've started to see this as an early engineering hire in a fledgling startup. As we grow, my influence grows too; thanks to my leaders giving me the "magic wand".
I agree with all your points on management roles and had all the same reasons when I left management to go back to being an IC. I'll be interested to know how it works out for you. I'd posted a while back about choosing to go back to IC and getting repeatedly pushed back into management given the experience.
Feels like there is such a spectrum from IC to full-time manager at small to medium sized companies. Still, going into FT management shouldn't be one way. I have enjoyed some opportunities to move between the extremes.