New managers (or bad ones) have a hard time serving the basic functions of - filtering incoming noise, making priority decisions, and allowing some room for ICs

New managers (or bad ones) have a hard time serving the basic functions of - filtering incoming noise, making priority decisions, and allowing some room for ICs to breathe. The last one - allowing ICs to breathe is extremely important. Most of my best / most impactful / bragged-by-others work was completely unplanned/unscoped/side project kind of stuff where I saw a recurring problem that could be addressed. Most of these were really like 1-2 days of focused work to get to 80%, then when management saw what it got them.. periodic planned/scoped/in-sprint tasks for improvements. New/bad managers often have a hard time not planning their ICs time down to the minute.