It’s just doing business within your current budget. Everybody knows projections and hence budget will change but rules are such that until they don’t you’d better lock in what you can.
You basically rephrased what I said - because "doing business within your current budget" doesn't mean you're making the right decision. If you temporarily overhire and then have to lay people off, you'll be in a worse spot than if you hadn't overhired in the first place. Good management wouldn't do this, but it's safer, because you will be judged less harshly for doing what everyone does ("doing business within your current budget").
You're doing the right decision for you in your org even if from the wider company perspective it's obviously wrong and everybody knows this, starting from the CEO, going via middle management and individual contributors, ending at shareholders. It's simply accepted that the rules of the game are such.
You can change the rules, but probably not if you're publicly traded... unless you're Apple.
Exactly, you Cover Your Ass.
IMO apple has been the notable exception Cook is easily the top CEO of the valley. Its honestly impressive how well Cook was able to keep the company moving after jobs stepped down.
Their approach has definitely changed my mental image of the company, and I'm happy that a successful tech company is following such a strategy. My worst fear is a wave of cargo-culting MBAs pointing towards Musks approach to Twitter and copying it for the whole sector. Apple currently is the shining example against that.
I really think that there isn't a rational reason for doing so, it's just CYA all the way up.