I'm tempted to be sarcastic about it, but it's surprising to me that no has mentioned sales quotas being connected to bad behavior. The most important kind is deceptive behavior to customers, and not just the "ordinary, good for the company kind". I mean making promises the company can't keep, or selling future features that require a deathmarch, with the attendant loss of quality/sustainability, even if the C-level doesn't see it.

This isn't to argue that we should just believe developer estimates unconditionally. That's a bigger rabbit hole that I'm too tired to go down right now.