"Organizations drift when incentives substitute for judgment.
Many failures arrive wearing the costume of professionalism. In a metric proposal that will change incentives, the argument sounds responsible right up until the system breaks. The story is what makes the risk hard to see.
In a metric proposal that will change incentives, the rational story will be that you were being pragmatic. The bill arrives later as fragility and rework, and the team learns that “temporary” means permanent. You see it in a dashboard interpreted as confirmation because the plan has momentum. Write it for the person who inherits it later, because they will not have today’s context or today’s goodwill.
James Q. Wilson is a reminder to audit the argument, not the intention. Name the cost you are accepting so you can defend it later. Save it where decisions live.