Not every company works like that

Big tech has a lot of wankery like that but smaller companies can be fast and scrappy

It's a good point, and your username definitely checks out. I've also worked at a startup and some smaller companies, and still there's a LOT of "wankery" just different types. No, don't write the code yet, you need to present it to the CEO. Oh, we need to also present it to investors. Wait for a bit, because we have another deal coming down the pipe and we might have to change direction. Oh, a VIP customer just played golf with the founder and you need to go to his house to fix his setup. So much of the software engineer's job in the software industry doesn't involve writing code.