Employees do need to be compared. You will be judged. That's just life. The framing makes it seem like there's some weird puppet master shit going on when in reality, yeah, whomever completes the task faster, better, more elegantly, whatever the manager is optimizing for, is going to be favored. That's the job of a manager.

When you realize your job isn't to complete stories, knock out tickets, or appease "the company", but to make your manager's day easier and more frictionless, is when you are doing "your job".

Optimize for optimizing your manager.

It’s not inherently wrong to do any of these things. They don’t necessarily require any lies to be told. Some of them are a bit dickish, but they all could have a higher purpose, too.

Competition can be invigorating. Vague feedback may be due to not really having specific things to say.

This article is an example of games played by commentators who oversimplify a complex world.