It's ended up that I treat my line manager as a normal co-worker who happens to sign off on my leave. I go to his boss when I need to discuss technical implica

It's ended up that I treat my line manager as a normal co-worker who happens to sign off on my leave. I go to his boss when I need to discuss technical implications of decisions I'm making for the products. Next layer up is more of a filter between the CEO and the company. Who works on what comes down directly from CEO. It's tons of fun. Edit: my last salary review, 6 people were invited to it (including me).