I always try to start my day with something really boring and basic for this reason - Things like "Add X to DB class" are tedious, but they help bootstrap my brain into a place where I can tackle the bigger problems (if I need to).
I've taken it as a sign that I am officially "old" that this article was stunningly obvious. I remember being introduced to a profiler and similar instrumentation techniques by my first software engineering mentor.
Value, including your reputation, is built on applying intellectual leverage to get results that are faster and larger than expected.
The quick fixes (low hanging fruit) buy time to gedankenversuch your big architectural solution, so you can apply your critical mind to tearing it down, rebuilding it, boiling the ocean for tea, and tearing it down again while washing your underarms in the shower[1]. With a new team, it builds trust so that "rudely" doesn't come into it when you open the topic.
[1] This is the leading cause of having to jump back into the shower because I forgot to rinse.