Imagine a new CTO or middle manager coming in, with a small ego, and a big need to prove himself, and initiating a make-work project.
What defense mechanisms does your firm have against this? Unless your team leads are golf buddies with the C-suite, it is unlikely that their opinions are going to be taken seriously.
That's the thing. The two are indistinguishable, unless you give people with strong technical skills veto power on projects. If you don't work in such an environment, the only reason you haven't ran into a dangerous, idiot manager, is luck.
For some reason, in most firms, the c-suite isn't super keen on delegating that power.
What defense mechanisms does your firm have against this? Unless your team leads are golf buddies with the C-suite, it is unlikely that their opinions are going to be taken seriously.