> It’s not uncommon to find engineering managers with 30 direct reports. Flatt says that’s by design, to prevent micromanaging. “There is only so much you can meddle when you have 30 people on your team, so you have to focus on creating the best environment for engineers to make things happen,” he notes.
That sounds to me like middle management, not front-line technical management. At 30 people you can indeed only focus on the big picture strategy and process, and you really can’t help anyone with their technical issues. If there is no layer of senior technical leadership between that manager and the newer/junior ICs, that would be a disaster.
Source: How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management https://hbr.org/2013/12/how-google-sold-its-engineers-on-man...