Interestingly, I think most such "small lies" would have affected nobody but me (and would only have affected me by adding to my stress).
e.g.
Saying something's complete when in fact it's 95% complete, and will be complete by the end of the week, regardless of whether or not I claim right now that it's complete. There's nobody urgently waiting on this thing. The only difference then being whether I complete it in a relatively relaxed manner, or under the additional stress of hoping nobody asks to see it before the end of the week.
Other instances were based on how I felt about certain aspects of the project.
e.g.
Q: Do you think the remaining deliverables of the project will follow the plan?
(True) A: Actually no. And here's why.
Previously I would probably just have said yes, and dealt with any upcoming issues as and when. The truthful approach led to a brief discussion about what will be different and why. Everyone now understands the issues. They're not major. Nobody died. Everyone (including me) left happy.
Wow - I read the article this morning, shortly before I had to present to managers on the current status of a project. Thought I'd try putting it into practice. The results: (a) I'm quite shocked at the number of (to be fair, very little) lies I would normally tell in such a situation, (b) It was weirdly relaxing being able to just sit there and tell the truth, (c) I've never received such good feedback from a presentation!
Agreed - many of the comments (naturally, given the location) focus on the tech part of the pie. From experience in both science and technology industries, I'd say there's definitely some difference between the two in terms of starting and average salaries, and most certainly in the potential for top salaries.
At the end of the article the author describes how (assuming his previous arguments are true) Japan's leaders would still have publicly cited the bomb as a strong reason for their surrender as it "served to deflect blame" from themselves.