But when you "boost productivity" by taking away ownership of the product you're trying to turn the engineers into code monkeys that implement your wishes without too much questioning. In reality it decreases productivity because you've taken away a big part of the fun of building things, the connection with the users and the business. And it drives away the better people.
To be fair (and I am not trying to defend these 'Slick guys'), sometimes there is a lot more happening behind closed doors that a PM might let on. Fights for resources, maintaining a current team, hiring, ownership, etc.
Oftentimes those people trying to portray a 'Slick' exterior are doing so due to the need to portray a sense of success/confidence for their team, to make sure they retain their existing budget and that the team doesn't get moved to other projects or terminated entirely.
