What makes better sense is to flatten the management level. Google and Facebook are doing it. Why would a company paying so much more on inflated salary and titles to have so many senior executives and senior managers managing little managers and technical employees? I bet getting people in is one of the way to show VPs and the rest of the management have some works to do. The fact is, since pandemic, VMware have gone almost fully remote and revenue is better from year to year. Perhaps, management are feeling their values dropped. So, it is time to find something to do to justify the existence. E.g sending out many useless meetings and bogus projects. Managers should have some knowledge in software development and or have been in technical roles to be effective in managing technical teams otherwise, they are just going to get in the way. Recession coming, everyone should roll up the sleeves and get to the real work. Meta calls it "Year of Efficiency"
Posted by @hhg+1lkFPOCs, nicely put.