I'd read it as a symptom of something going pretty badly wrong. For example, imagine a funny scenario where a business decides that it needs to use computers to improve efficiency. Some desktop towers are bought. The front-line employees use them as the physical foundation for a new table that they needed and report "mission accomplished" up the chain. The problem in this scenario is that while technically yes, real problems are being solved with the suggested tool someone here is badly, badly out of touch with what needs to be happening to see real improvement.

Similarly here, if there is a formula that stupid being used, even as a memory aid, it suggests to me that real lives could be saved if they embed a few real Ops Research specialists somewhere important instead of whatever they are doing.