Well, that both sounds logical and matches my experience so far. IMO the whole "parallel career ladder" to me does sound like mostly a way to have something to

Well, that both sounds logical and matches my experience so far. IMO the whole "parallel career ladder" to me does sound like mostly a way to have something to motivate people who do not go for management, and also maybe to limit who goes into management for good or worse. Also this is something that goes beyond what one person has as an architectural vision - at some point you will run into conflicts between the practical corporate reality and your vision and one will have to give way - most of the time it is the vision. Often that vision does not exist in isolation, but is built with at least the implicit understanding of the softer, people side.