"They had a specific date to ship, and a fixed number of engineering resources. They knew their bug count had to glide down to zero by X date, and some bugs had to sadly be resolved "Won't fix." If a PM doesn't hit their schedule and ship, they get fired. This bug had to be punted."
diffuse responsibility, give some folks one-sided power, and you've got a Parreto-efficient race to the bottom.
"They had a specific date to ship, and a fixed number of engineering resources. They knew their bug count had to glide down to zero by X date, and some bugs had to sadly be resolved "Won't fix." If a PM doesn't hit their schedule and ship, they get fired. This bug had to be punted."
diffuse responsibility, give some folks one-sided power, and you've got a Parreto-efficient race to the bottom.