Their reasons made very good sense to me. I read their comments less as statements of precluding or forcing and more about incentives and focus. I'm a big fan

Their reasons made very good sense to me. I read their comments less as statements of precluding or forcing and more about incentives and focus. I'm a big fan of the "tie yourself to the mast" (Odysseus and the Sirens reference) approach to managing yourself or your team. Many times the strategy of intelligently removing future options for yourself in order to eliminate distractions and temptations pays off very well. You've removed a path that you can see may be taken in moments of weakness. The business plan you develop because you need it will be better than the one you develop because you know you should have one. If you see people as Galts or Ubermensch or some kind of rational actor then this seems crazy to you. Why limit your choices when you can remain flexible in the face of an uncertain future? If you acknowledge that you yourself are subject to coercion by incentives, that willpower is a depleteable personal resource, that paradox of choice type situations carry a cost? Then it makes a lot of sense. Of course, as you pointed out, there are a lot of projects where this choice simply doesn't apply.