I agree with the premise but a hand-wavy 'manage moar better' doesn't strike me as a feasible solution.
At a deeper (very generalized) level, we've been infected by production line, Deming style, efficiency focus.
If you are handling previously defined routines, great. Optimizing can help you.
As soon as you are working with adding value, be it in code, education, product development, metrics are /all/ premature optimization.
Promote the idea that you can't apply optimization techniques to creative steps and encourage managers to get off the numerical crutches and make value judgments. Takes a better manager but then that's the point anyway, right?