Yes, to be a manager requires a skill set in a requisite field (craft), however, managers are still removed away from the actual day to day practices/realities or (craftsmanship) occurring directly; and often it is more a matter of their being able to accurately define, monitor, and direct what is occurrring, thus the need for their reports. Often reporting has little to do with the actual practices of the business and more to do with describing what is occurring, what should occur, and when or where it can occur. This serves to benchmark, quantify, and inform the so called "powers to be" or their representatives called (managers) who are clueless without the information. But to use the analogy of building the motorcycle, the powers/management really do not know how to build the motorcyle. Hell, the specialization required today means really know one individual person knows how to build the motorcycle, rather, collectively, it is assembled utilizing the specialized knowledges of many people. Airbus is reporting it will deliver a certain number of new A380's to the media and their custormers, but the reality may be quite different because the specialized knowledge workers integrated over multiple jurisdictions are still working out the reality. Ultimately, this is all being collectively assembled in multiple reports and then someone is going to have to decide when to tell the Emperor that he is not wearing any clothes. That someone is called leadership. That leadership is required at all levels from the individual craftman, to the managers, directors, and ultimately to the CEO (whoever it might be on that day the news arrives).