That post is why I think it's so important to consider at what level decisions should be made, as well as how detailed our instructions should be. For the birthday cake, for example, you probably need to give some sense of when it needs to be available, what the budget is, and how many people will be eating it.
Other factors depend on the situation. Chocolate? White? Banana? Is there a reason for one or the other?
Are colors an option, or does it need to be done a certain way? (i e. Their favorite color is blue. Or maybe it's not for a birthday. Maybe it's a cake for a university, and they want the school colors).
The point, though, is to distinguish between 'this is the image in my head' and 'these are a requirement for achieving the goal'. I could ignore a cake that's red when I pictured blue, because the color wasn't really important. But if it WAS, then I'd specify it, and expect as much.
So the guidelines should be the essential bits, and the details beyond that are up to the person given the task.
And what about the dragon cake?
In some ways, it exemplifies why in the military we like to give the tadk and purpose. See, things can change. Quickly. And you don't always have time to provide an updated guideline. That's why you should want people who show initiative and good judgement. So even if it doesn't say 'Happy Birthday' on the cake, if the person responsible for that task has reason to think it would do a better job of making the birthday person happy (and it's within budget), that's ok. It's meeting the real intent.
Though, of course, it's a judgment call and could be wrong. That's a different story.
This is why, in the military at least, the officer focuses on planning, resources, and the 'what' while the NCO handles the how.
Or, to go into public policy - different levels of government are appropriate for setting various standards (federal, state, county, etc). But even if it's appropriate to set the standard at the national level, the 'how' can often be figured out at a lower level,where they have local knowledge and can make whatever it is work in their specific context.
Washington DC doesn't need to dictate to a city or county where to put a local road, but they may want to provide a bare minimum standard for interstates. And make sure that states coordinate so interstate roads connect across state lines. It'd kind of defeat the purpose if I80 or I10 ended at the border, and you had to drive 50 miles on local roads to pick it back up again.
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