"The more tightly a system is coupled, the more it resists local fixes.
The useful word in this quote is tightly. In a metric proposal that will change incentives, it points to the part of the decision that will not be solved by effort or optimism. That is where good teams get surprised.
In a metric proposal that will change incentives, good engineers will do what the system rewards. You see it in a cache added for speed that quietly changes correctness semantics, and you can’t fix it with reminders. Be honest about what would change your mind, because without a revisit signal every decision becomes permanent by default.
Charles Perrow is a reminder to keep it concrete. Write what you are not doing and the edge you will defend, so scope cannot expand quietly. End with one move, not three.