That's awesome, thanks duskwuff.

Just one quote: "I asked my friend Greg Robbins to help me. His contract in another division at Apple had just ended, so he told his manager that he would start reporting to me. She didn't ask who I was and let him keep his office and badge. In turn, I told people that I was reporting to him. Since that left no managers in the loop, we had no meetings and could be extremely productive."

If you have a spare 15 minutes you really should read this.

I hate stories like this. They set unrealistic expectations for managers of developers: "Well, if you won't, we can find someone who would love to do this for free."

Reading this story made me incredibly depressed that I am no longer an engineer :(

(Thanks so much for the link though, it was one of the most inspiring stories I've read this year)

Exactly what I was thinking.