The former has happened a number of times, for example with Kelly Johnston and Lockheed martin's Skunk Works, or many other institutions with charismatic dictat

The former has happened a number of times, for example with Kelly Johnston and Lockheed martin's Skunk Works, or many other institutions with charismatic dictatatorial engineers at the helm (Tesla, Linux, Microsoft). I'm definitely not saying that their respective leaders don't make bad decisions, but rather that a suboptimal solution, consistently implemented results in a better outcome than an inconsistent solution "optimised" by individuals along the way.