I think that if someone really should be fired and it is only obvious to their direct report then something seriously wrong has happened. Firing should never be

I think that if someone really should be fired and it is only obvious to their direct report then something seriously wrong has happened. Firing should never be a surprise to anyone. Good tech cultures are good at making expectations clear. I'm a "Lead" Developer without direct firing power, but I know my CTO has my back. If I ever recommended firing someone out of the blue his response would be, "How did you let it get this bad without looping me in sooner?" And he would be correct. I'm glad I don't have autocratic power and I would never work for a company that handed that much power to one person.