[matfil]

A coworker from a previous job said something along the lines of “How much work is getting done by teams debating tabs vs spaces?”

That's a good question, but having agreed that such debates don't contribute much, you've got two ways to go: either enforce a standard, or "live and let live" (perhaps supported by strong-ish module ownership). I think it's unfortunate that the "live and let live" option seems to have largely fallen by the wayside over the past few years.