Can't say I've observed that too. The adult world is littered with blur. It's an extremely strange (and exhausting) game equilibrium. And people, just like you do, realized that, and now as non stupid agents, .. game the metric. In many companies, different kinds of employees took advantage of this blur / lack of vision (or plain stupidity some would say).. to delay work and only do it when absolutely required, and ranting about all the 'hard word' they have on their plate. Anyways, I personally hate this way of life and am curious if it's possible to be excellent and honest and not having to deal with theatrics. Maybe i'm fighting windmills.