Middle managers like to set targets and goals because it counts towards their bonus, and it looks less like they’ve got their dick in their hand when the boss comes calling.

It's the same problem all over. Capitalism. You have people who don't do work keeping the benefits from the work.

Most people aren't going to give themselves stupid or useless metrics. Software people aren't going to impose "tokens used" or "lines of code" metrics on themselves. They know those are stupid.

People need a metric shitton of things to do their job well. When you're told what to do, that's a goal. If you're told a deadline to fulfill, that's a metric.

I understand that people have taken the words in an exclusively derogatory mode. But you need minimum those two things to do any job. Else you're just a nepo dickhead who gets paid for parading around an office and you're the piece of shit interfering with the people who actually do have jobs to do.