A good PM saves work for the team by shifting work away from from valueless investments. If a team is "slowing down to appease a PM" then that PM is worthless.

> A good PM saves work for the team by shifting work away from from valueless investments.

Knowing what’s valuable and what’s not is a function of being an employee. Designers and engineers should know where value exists.

If they need a PM to shift them away from valueless work, then I highly question their efficacy as an engineer. I also highly question that organization’s management structure and communication.

Can imagine PMs at a product focused HN like forum complaining about the opposite aka engineers spending time at the wrong places

I've managed enough PMs to know that's 100% true. It happens at work, in the open.