Thread appears to get bogged down from time to time but is, nonetheless, a very important message to get across to the newchums periodically ..
Consider -
(a) the main aim is to come up with numbers to provide the operating crew with data unlikely to cause embarrassment - the bean counters may take a contrary view, of course
(b) the next aim is to be able to defend the numbers and processes in court
(c) the operating crew, however, must know enough about the basis of the numbers to operate in a manner compatible with the analysis.
(d) sometimes this results in pilots with not much more than a very elementary "do it this way" knowledge right through to folk who are competent to do the whole thing .. end user performance work is hardly rocket science .. one just needs to be methodical, disciplined, have good obstacle data and housekeeping.
(e) whether the analysis is balanced or unbalanced really is unimportant, provided that the numbers don't put the aircraft (on paper) off the side/end of the runway, into the hill, etc.
(f) balanced calcs are great for general charts to be used in association with climb gradient data by the pilot when the RTOW tables are invalid. Quick and dirty answer to the immediate problem without taking forever to do the sums ..
(g) except for folk who are used to using the AFM, it generally is not feasible for the line pilot to pull out the book on the ramp and do the full analysis. When one considers that the main problem is defining the actual obstacles, it would be pointless for the pilot to attempt an optimised calculation anyway.
(h) flight standards considerations are extremely important. While the bean counters have their part to play, often the difference between a balanced and unbalanced calculation is not significant so there may be the opportunity to use the simpler data to make it a bit easier on crew workload, etc. A similar argument can be made for facilitating the use of computer based cockpit assistance .. FMCs and the like.
(i) generally, unbalancing will provide extra payload so it is a good thing if the alternative is to leave a bunch of people behind at the terminal
(j) unbalancing to optimise the numbers may result in speed schedules which are not comfortable for the pilot .. considerations of high speed aborts become very relevant from the viewpoints of standardised practices and corporate risk control
.. and the list can be extended to further detail without too much effort ....