I can’t imagine working any way other than this. A system where you are assigned precise little tasks with hard deadlines that sum to precisely your compensation is a low trust environment. I’d much rather hand people projects or work as a team to solve large problems than need to micromanage the hell out of people so that they’ve got enough shit to do to justify their wage without overburdening them. That sounds exhausting.

“Hey, I pay you to work on my team and build something with the team” is a much healthier and happier system. It also gives people agency about how to tackle problems and the ability to propose work or even experiment. The alternative is a joyless factory line.