The fellowship training in thoracic surgery was a form of Theory X that I will term “individually authoritarian”. Each surgeon had a specific routine- which vessel was grafted first, where proximal anastomoses were placed on the aorta, where and how the suture was started and where it ended, how many knots were required, etc.. It was incumbent upon the fellow to learn each of these idiosyncrasies and pass it along to the incoming/upcoming fellows. Failure to do so was not an option.
I believe it was a successful system, One learned attention to detail, which was critical in these cases. One learned many ways to perform the same procedures. This allows you to have a Plan B/C should the case present an unusual condition. One also had the opportunity to use the “best” of each teacher to establish their own sequence and idiosyncrasies.