Engineers will do the right thing.

Here's a story.

Working on a wiki. Early on chose SVN as backend.

SVN domain mismatch with wiki. (Tiny commits, no need to merge, no concept of checkouts) Led to bugs.

Management: It's too late to switch!

Engineer: Oh sh...

1 week later

Engineer: Hey look I switched to files while you weren't looking, and saved us three months of bugs!

Management: Oh sh...

Engineers will do the right thing.

The people closest to the information will make the best decisions.

Implementors are closest to the thing they're implementing. They're in fact the only people in touch with reality!

Problem: Implementors are traditionally given the least amount of power at a company.

This is exactly the opposite of correct!

Solution: Give engineers explicit veto power over their work.