These are not the qualities of an expert according to Dreyfus’s model (As referenced by the article). According to the model, as you gain skill you also gain the capability to bear responsibility. A beginner programmer can be responsible to program to a clear spec / wireframe. A senior dev can be responsible for making the client happy. It’s not obvious to a beginner, but those are very different tasks.

If you spend 6 months working on the wrong thing, you aren’t taking responsibility for delivery. It’s a mistake that most smart programmers seem to fall into at some point in their career, when they’re still learning. It’s a classic sign for me of a mid level developer made into a tech lead before they’re quite ready for the role. I’ve seen that happen way more often than I’d like.

If your tech lead is making mistakes like that, your team is operating without a real senior dev at the helm. That’s not insurmountable, but don’t mistake that sort of thing for real expertise.