As someone who does due diligence for a (partial) living I try to approach the question asking part of the process from as objective a perspective as possible,

As someone who does due diligence for a (partial) living I try to approach the question asking part of the process from as objective a perspective as possible, my goal at that point is to establish an understanding of the company's technology, staff, and processes, not make judgements. Asking questions where there are "right" and "wrong" (or "better" and "worse") answers induces the responder to think "what does the person asking this question want to hear", not "what is the most factual response I can give". Only after I'm confident that I have a clear picture of the company will I make a subjective assessment, and there it is primarily by comparing them to peers, not by ranking them on any absolute or idealized scale (with exceptions for certain "red flags", e.g. releasing products without reproducible builds).