80% of the people I work with in Tech understand what a "bike shed" is - when you saying, "our discussion of this web page is turning into a bike shed."

Most people understand you are talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality

Only 15% know what "Cargo Cult" in the context of IT.

I'm trying to figure out why, and I've also found that more developers know what this is vs. people in infra jobs.

Which is strange because most of the "Cargo Culting" I see in IT is related to vendor software.

I feel another blog coming on, but blogs are so 2006.

Also, another important thing I've realized...

...it's difficult to explain what a Cargo Cult is without being seen as a little crazy.

You end up talking about Anthropology, Melanesian "value dominance," and "myth dreams."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult 

Breakdown of explaining this to IT folks..

10% think, "Interesting. I took anthro in undergrad and I get it."

85% think, "Ok, capacity dude is talking about Anthropology."

5% think, "Wait, this explains why almost every decision in IT feels both arbitrary and referential."

Now that I've established how unlikely it is that your IT colleagues will understand "Cargo Culting."

What is the probability that anyone understood you when you said:

"Hold on, let's not cargo cult this bike shed. We need to understand the 'why' before we select a tool."