> Even if the detail was something like, "if this wasn't fixed, we were at the risk of losing half our customers" ?

Yes, because this one task appears as a single line item for the manager's manager. They don't care for the complexity or consequences until the fire actually happens. And if the fire happens, they just blame engineers.

If the industry incentives were changed such that manager heads would roll for mass outages, managers would start appreciating big fixes.