I'm in the same camp, I don't even understand why programming is done under constant artificial time pressure, why are programmers constantly hounded and stressed for no particular reason? Nobody is really waiting for this task, it's an old well-known bug, or just a new additional feature but OMG HOW LONG, ARE WE DONE YET!??
Edit: same thing in this interview question, the whole point is super quick performance and working under time pressure, and making changes to code bases that you don't have time to understand, why?
You have a very good point there. Deadlines in the real world are often fairly artificial. So, why do we put people under extreme time pressure to perform in interviews?
It depends on the company. Especially in smaller companies, the success of the manager is very much tied to the success of the whole company, but yeah, in bigger enterprises it's often like you said.
I have found that sometimes (!) imposing an artificial timeline can bring the whole team together if done correctly. I've been in situations where projects weren't finished for a long time, everyone just cruised along, because there was no timeline and time to market was "when it is done". And there were always more important things to ship. This is bad for company and everyone involved... Just ship it, then iterate.
Edit: same thing in this interview question, the whole point is super quick performance and working under time pressure, and making changes to code bases that you don't have time to understand, why?