[jeandenis]

One point of the post is that if you do constant retros (say every 2 weeks), within teams with the engineering manager, you can help foster an "an environment that is open to discussion and even polite dissent" (as you put it).

As a VP Eng, I've found that it can definitely hurt for upper management to get involved in retros. I try really hard to create bottom-up empowerment where individuals and teams can solve problems and improve their processes independently. That kind of ownership is really powerful. Retros really help with that. Plus, from my perspective, I can just read retro-notes to find common threads across teams that may require my help to improve or fix (e.g., if we're consistently underinvesting on testing or if aren't providing enough avenues for career growth or ...).

I obviously can't speak to your experiences, but what you're describing sounds really dark: management "conning" management. I hope you've been able to get away from such places!

[fatnoah]

This is literally what I did as a VP Eng. I let the teams drive the improvements and kept my role to a) ask questions to help the team identify areas of improvement and b) help implement the changes when necessary. The result was that I had many teams with fairly different processes, definitions of ready & done, etc. but that was the whole point. It's all about what helps the team work best, and ownership of the process along with the result goes a long way.