I think it became the standard because that's the way to cook. No surprises. You don't want to get halfway through mixing up fruitcake dough and discover you need dried fruit.
Except that uses far more measuring dishes and counter space. Instead, put the final bowl on a scale, add each ingredient one at a time, and zero the scale in-between. I might pull the ingredients out ahead of time, but unless you're in a commercial kitchen, there's no real point in pre-measuring everything.