You hired senior engineers to think, but you keep telling them what to do

This is how well-intentioned managers quietly block growth, trust, and retention.

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You hired senior engineers because you wanted people who could take ownership of work, not just code fast. People who’d been around long enough to spot the mistakes before they happen. People who could take a problem and run with it.

So why are you still telling them exactly how to solve every problem?

A hiring manager brings on an experienced engineer, pays them a senior salary, gives them a senior title - and then proceeds to hand them projects with every technical decision already made. The engineer becomes an expensive pair of hands. They write the code, sure. But they’re not really engineering anything.

Decision hoarding

The…