> Were they a great manager simply because they let you do what you wanted, without any deeper guidance or feedback?

Why do I get the feeling you're a technical manager trying to rationalize why you don't trust your developers?

The entirety of your second paragraph speaks to a belief that developers can't manage themselves. That without a manager, no work would get done and no software written.

But having been in this game for roughly 25 years now, I promise you I know how to get software written successfully. What I need is the manager to __believe and trust__ me when I tell them something. There's a vast difference between a negotiation to figure out what can be done in the next 2 weeks and arguing with a fuckwit who thinks they know better than you despite moving into management after 2-3 years of software development.