I think it's mostly the tone I don't like about this article. It speaks to a defeastism that feels infectious at the moment. It feels very contrary to the normal spirit of communities like HN, which overall I've witnessed being someone positive.
I recall reading at the time comments on HN saying things like, 20% projects don't really exist, or that it's impossible to launch things at Google because of all the approvals you need. And then I went back to launching a 20% project into production.
If you do really care about making a project fly then filling out forms, getting people on board and getting approvals won't stop you.
For the decade I was there, I couldn't honestly think of something I'd want to put that kind of effort into so that some human-dialtone like Sundar could cancel it later, or some pushier and better organized person could take credit for it.
But I have certainly thought of them after I left.
They are often not environments promoting spontaneous contributions, especially not not at the L3/L4/L5 aka lower part of the promotion ladder.
That and corporate survival / promo at these places really depends on "demonstrating impact", which, well, at the lower levels... can come down to sticking with doing what someone more senior than you expected you to do, taking ownership of it, and etc etc.
The reality is that many of the people spinning their wheels like this should just leave and go find a new job. But that's awfully hard to do when you are making sometimes twice as much as what a more "meaningful" job in e.g. a startup or small company can offer. Or when you're on an H1B, or you need certain medical care, etc. etc. etc.