Yeah, having been an engineer, tech lead and manager in various forms over the last 25 years, I have to saw I appreciate the thoughtfulness and nuance that Will Larson is trying to bring. The problem is nuance on its own doesn't really grab anyone's attention and it doesn't challenge assumptions, so things need to be spiced up a bit. But as soon as you do that people have knee-jerk reactions, usually based on specific lived experience and context that is far from universal.
Ultimately the problem with management advice is that everything is contextual. A bad manager can abuse any advice, and a great manager can find a counter example to any advice. The right answer is pretty much always "it depends". On the internet though, there's generally not enough time or depth of connection to wade through the details that matter, and even when it's attempted, the vast majority don't have the experience and expertise to draw the right lessons from deep case studies anyway. Instead, what is successful are blanket statements and platitudes that reflexively resonate with some large group of people. The problem with that kind of content is that it gives a dopamine hit but is absolutely worthless in terms of actually developing expertise.
Building large scale software systems is hard, managing teams of talented engineers to build those systems in a constantly changing business environment is even harder. Anyone who says different is naive or selling something.
Ultimately the problem with management advice is that everything is contextual. A bad manager can abuse any advice, and a great manager can find a counter example to any advice. The right answer is pretty much always "it depends". On the internet though, there's generally not enough time or depth of connection to wade through the details that matter, and even when it's attempted, the vast majority don't have the experience and expertise to draw the right lessons from deep case studies anyway. Instead, what is successful are blanket statements and platitudes that reflexively resonate with some large group of people. The problem with that kind of content is that it gives a dopamine hit but is absolutely worthless in terms of actually developing expertise.
Building large scale software systems is hard, managing teams of talented engineers to build those systems in a constantly changing business environment is even harder. Anyone who says different is naive or selling something.