Just blindly asking for status emails so you have some numbers and justifications for your charts would probably not go over well. Asking for status emails regarding real milestones and to verify functionality, check metrics, or suggest current progress be analyzed can be very helpful.
Good management seems to include knowing when someone needs some guidance or help and when they just need you to stay out of their hair.
However, scrum-like standups mitigate it since you always report the status everyday like clockwork, so it doesn't feel personal for that particular task. Projects should be broken down into things that can be done within a day or less, so it is easier for a dev to stay in the zone.
I like the method described by Tim Ferris when he used Indian outsourcers: (1) Have them repeat the task in their own words before the task (2) Set a time limit, 1 - 3 hours into the task before they have to report back and you can make a decision to move forward and complete the task or cut your losses.
For me, it was learning to build ways where I could invisibly monitor someone's progress without bothering them. Setting up Subversion/Git to alert me at commits. Having the database show me a progress of tasks completed/uncompleted, etc.
But yeah definitely: interrupting people doing good work, asking them to do things with "status" in them, is the worst way to go.
I find that the best managers are the ones who can get the information they need and create a minimal level of disruption in the developer's workflow (not that it's always possible, I understand that disruptions have to happen at times).