> But from my experience, I find that the prevalence and empowerment of PMs is largely turning Devs into highly-paid code monkeys, as opposed to the highly-paid

> But from my experience, I find that the prevalence and empowerment of PMs is largely turning Devs into highly-paid code monkeys, as opposed to the highly-paid and empowered value builders that they should be. Indeed. In the first ~17 years of my career in software I never met or heard of a PM. That's a job for engineering leadership (architects or equivalent). Nothing good comes out of having a separate non-technical person making architectural decisions. Also as you say, it disempowers engineering which is a sure way to drive out the best.