> it's just that they would opt for the unnecessarily complex decision at every step of the way

But this does not invalidate the previous point about the environment. If the environment is loose and with low accountability, those unnecessarily complex decisions receive a big pass; if the environment has strict principles about simplicity and made that as an incentive, those practices faces much hard time to spread in that particular environment.

I think this is a case of “Show me the incentives and I will show you the outcome.”