Engineering management is a culture. Cultures have shared mythologies and values that bind the tribe together, that tell members who they are and their place in

Engineering management is a culture. Cultures have shared mythologies and values that bind the tribe together, that tell members who they are and their place in the world. Two key commitments of this particular culture are metrics and standardization. Otherwise rational and pragmatic leaders will either pretend not to hear you or look at you like you have three heads when you make an argument that seriously challenges one of these commitments. Very smart ones have some trite stock answers as defense mechanisms. This is because you are committing a type error. This kind of argumentation is valid with respect to rational strategies adopted instrumentally towards goals. The commitment to uniformity is deeper than that. Scrum is the recognized best practice; we make sure that all tendrils of the organization follow a standard and that this standard is aligned with recognized best practice because that is the kind of people we are.