Yeah, I think that's about exactly it. He was micromanaging and also somewhat randomizing, asking me to switch focus often when he thought something else was hi

Yeah, I think that's about exactly it. He was micromanaging and also somewhat randomizing, asking me to switch focus often when he thought something else was higher priority, which doesn't work well for my work style in terms of actually getting things finished. And to my non-credit I didn't really communicate this issue to him at the time. But I think he did figure it out much like you described, and is successfully managing (and not micromanaging) a high performing team today.