> And then he was replaced. > And then... We realized how much politics, uncertainty, churn, screaming, changing requirements, ambiguous priorities and other c

> And then he was replaced. > And then... We realized how much politics, uncertainty, churn, screaming, changing requirements, ambiguous priorities and other carp he protected us from :-/ Indeed, have experienced that. At my best job experience ever, there was zero politics or distractions, I could focus all day long on interesting and relevant technical problems. I was both very happy and extremely productive. And then.. my manager left. Whoa! The following months were insane mudslinging and relentless politics thrown at us in the team, could barely get any work done. Left the company soon after. Turns out our previous manager was absorbing and firewalling all that from us so we could be happy and productive. A great manager is like a great security team. You'll never notice what they're doing until they're not there.