Sounds like a serious problem with his initial direction more than a problem with the programmers, especially if they're all 'try[ing] to figure out things for

Sounds like a serious problem with his initial direction more than a problem with the programmers, especially if they're all 'try[ing] to figure out things for themselves'. Perhaps one of those PMs that never gives you all the facts or gets hazy when you ask about completely obvious future roadblock to your work (with the inevitable, 'I'll think about that and email it to you', which of course never comes) so that you constantly have to ask them questions so they feel indispensable when in fact the're just terrible at communication. And of course they're too busy to explain it all to you because everyone needs their questions answered and if they don't run off now the whole project will fall apart without their wise guidance. You might want to sugar coat that for your mate, but he's probably just a shit PM. People don't want to constantly be asking what they should do next, it's incredibly annoying and embarrassingly immature for professionals to be having to hang on to a PM's meagre titbits like a baby on a teat just so he can feel indispensable. OTOH, that could all just be quite obvious transference from a terrible PM I once knew...