It's actually a comedic reference to an earlier conversation between Scotty and Kirk from the 3rd Star Trek movie. (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Star_Trek_III

It's actually a comedic reference to an earlier conversation between Scotty and Kirk from the 3rd Star Trek movie. (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Star_Trek_III:_The_Search_for_Spock https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Star_Trek_III:_The_Search_for_...) see the first bit of dialogue in this page. Also I don't think it makes him seem like a bureaucrat. I'm no manager. I'm an engineer at the bottom of the org chart, but I still need to deliver estimates to my supervisor. And even if I'm an exceptional engineer, I can choose to estimate the time required for a task as though I were merely average.