Any popular development practice is overhyped, many of us know so little about writing good software that we often cargo cult. How does one manage a bunch of inexperienced software developers, and maybe the manager is inexperienced themselves? Well, try to copy what others say has worked!
Really, the only cure is judicious/experienced application of development practice. Is unit testing always appropriate? No! Is it sometimes appropriate? Yes! But that is not an easy message for people to understand.
I've seen unit tests on prototypes before because that was standard practice, only to have the entire prototype scrapped at the end...because that was also standard practice (never ship prototypes :) ). Confusing.
Really, the only cure is judicious/experienced application of development practice. Is unit testing always appropriate? No! Is it sometimes appropriate? Yes! But that is not an easy message for people to understand.
I've seen unit tests on prototypes before because that was standard practice, only to have the entire prototype scrapped at the end...because that was also standard practice (never ship prototypes :) ). Confusing.