Not that software can't improve on this front, but I'm pretty sure that every engineering profession has its fair share of opinions and disagreements around the

Not that software can't improve on this front, but I'm pretty sure that every engineering profession has its fair share of opinions and disagreements around them. Heck, my dad's a general surgeon and he's constantly debating with other surgeons over things like whether a procedure should be out-patient or which procedure has the best outcomes. They have a better concept of outcomes, which helps them make data-driven decisions, but they also have a higher risk profile which slows down the innovation process. I agree with most of your premise, but I think you overstate it a bit. Like the GP's point above, it seems like you're describing bad engineers. In the good web dev agencies I've worked at, they work pretty hard to make informed decisions which stay within budget and timeline. It doesn't always happen, but that's not just due to poor practice.