Totally agree. That's what was shocking to me as well when I started to drill into it after hearing so many folks complain about it. I think it is a sign of engineering managers struggling to find a simple process to deliver product more predictably. Unfortunately, it seems to be doing more harm than good.
This isn't really a criticism on the point your making in the article by the way, which I think is still valid. I find it weird too that software development is being shoehorned into a manufacturing job control system.