We as pilots should all be able to fly a VISUAL circuit and perhaps even without over complicating it with numbers and angles. It is the first thing I learned in a C152. The whole idea is that one keeps an eye out of the window at the runway and flys the plane how ever big or complicated it may be. Perhaps this SOP over complication (and I realise that there must be a SOP) optimises the whole modern approach to our job. Too many words and procedures and not enough back to basics...
A lot of this is down to the "blame culture".
If airlines spell out in minute detail how to do everything and the pilots screw it up then the managements can say "nothing to do with us mate - we told the pilots how to do it in the manuals".
SOPs are important to safe operation but sometimes you seem to spend more time trying to recall the latest instruction in the manual rather than applying common sense and airmanship.
Also there is a big difference between telling pilots "what" to do instead of
teaching them
"how" to do it.