> You're being evaluated on whether you can perform the role of someone who could theoretically build Google.
I can't agree with this enough. Companies want to believe they're Google or going to be Google. As a result they invest time, money, and engineers in problems they quite literally don't have and likely will never have.
> Then Drop the Act...
This, in my experience, depends. KPIs, goals, or whatever goofy games usually require the appearance of doing something impressive. Doing things that make sense isn't impressive.