Perhaps the most respectful and truthful way to handle this particular conflict is to assume some symmetry between "good developer" prevalence and "good manager

Perhaps the most respectful and truthful way to handle this particular conflict is to assume some symmetry between "good developer" prevalence and "good managers" - that is to say that while it isn't discussed as often, good managers are as valuable and rare as the "10x developer." The problem from the technical/developer perspective is a typical company - non-startup, non-technical core competency - lacks executive technical leadership. Therefore decisions about hiring management likely do not include technical understanding, and hence the managers aren't very likely to have any. So the best you can hope for (assuming you are a great developer) is benign neglect, where managers accept their ignorance and just keep the wheels turning. But that's assuming extraordinary developers - most developers are by definition average, and therefore on average, the most probable situation just a mess of average developers with average managers not figuring anything out. And while we can all be guilty here on HN of overstating our own abilities, I can say that people here seem to have a higher degree of understanding and wisdom overall (whether I agree with them or not) than I've seen on average in IT, so I have little doubt that frustrations with management can be heated, frequent and counterproductive to the business.