In well-run sales teams, that is exactly what happens. There is a constant move towards more accuracy and tightness in forecasting.
In poorly run sales teams, the reps basically set their owns quotas (padded, of course, to mitigate against massive uncertainty) and then are very imprecise at managing the WIP. Which sounds like a poorly run engineering team too. In sales, though, at least there is a very objective measure ($$$ closed) at the end of the period. Also, the period is fixed typically (months, quarters, etc).
Engineering is obviously different... what's the measure? LOCs? Obviously not...
Edit: just to be clear, I'm saying that well-run sales teams and well-run engineering teams probably have a lot in common, not that they are exactly the same.