Yes! The problem with being a „can-do everything problem solver“ is that I get overloaded with tasks from all over the organization whenever has a question or wants to get something working quickly.

While helping everyone with whatever comes up seems nice, it's not the most valuable way to spend my time. At first, I was annoyed by the „everything goes through the product manager“ - mantra, but now I agree that having someone to filter and prioritize incoming tasks is crucial.

Think it points more to the false belief that the “Individual Contributor” path has to stop at the start of the “Manager” path when the reality is it can surpass it.