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I think Google just can't find people internally who want to do it. I know of two groups (one of maybe 10, and another maybe 30 engineers) that sat essentially

I think Google just can't find people internally who want to do it. I know of two groups (one of maybe 10, and another maybe 30 engineers) that sat essentially leaderless for several months each before Google hired a manager from outside the company. Neither one of these, in my opinion, have a good handle on Google culture. There is no real reward for becoming a manager (no more pay, no more level, no more nothing), but a lot of hassle, so very few engineers want to do it. At least that is what I see from my limited vantage point.

jkaplowitz 8y ago
It's also hard for those Googlers who want to do it to be given the chance, unless already senior enough on the technical ladder to correspond to the top 20% of technical people at Google (a far higher bar than the technical competence required of a manager). Source: personal experience circa 2013-2015, when I was there and trying to transition from individual contributor and tech lead to first-time people manager. Of course I wasn't considering executive roles like this article is about.