It was always been stunning for me as an employee to learn how little middle managers know about what you are doing. They've all be given some kind of general goal or KPI, and through BS & pseudo-management science, they hope to wing it. They then try to show progress *to their managers* through intensely stupid charts and spreadsheets. Middle managers are a very blunt tool to monitor underlings and give out punishment and occasional praise. And yeah, good point about using jargon to show in-group status!