I'm gonna stick my neck out here;
on piston aircraft, oil temps often take time to reach before take off. Most piston aircraft do not have air conditioning on the ground. So, doing a pre, first take off of the day run-up, to get oil temps up, check mechanical integrity, (to give time for a possible repair, or aircraft swap), and just make sure everything is up to snuff, isn't a bad idea. Engine start cycles are not tracked on piston aircraft, (as far as I know) so thats not an issue.
A few years ago, when I was a DC-6 Engineer, we would often go out early when it was cold, and get the engines warmed up, and to try and stave off an unpredictable delay. there are a lot of things that can go wrong on a big piston to cause a delay; but when things have worked and are warm, they will most likely keep working. Nothing in the mechanical world is certain, but we have learned through experience, what works and what is less likely to.
On jet aircraft, doing a pre-first taxi run-up on a really cold day, or if the plane has just come out of a maintenance check, or if the plane has been sitting for an extended period of time, is a good idea.
As far as the "checklist comment, and who might have written it", that has no bearing on the matter. There is an incredible amount of idiots who have kissed their way into management positions, that have no business making checklists or making any kind of procedurally based decisions. Anyone who has been in this business longer than 5 years have seen checklists changed in one direction, and then 3 months later changed back, because it was a really stupid change.