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The example of the child being asked to clean his room reminds me a great deal of a bad engineer being asked to clean up his code.

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"His room" and "his code" is not comparable in the context. "His code" is part of a business's product and can impact the livelihood of many people involved in the product including customers.

"His room" is a private space that doesn't affect other people. I don't tell my co-worker to clean up his side-project on github.

You could tell your coworker (or your direct report if we're taking this analogy seriously) to clean up his work area. A child's room isn't a completely private space, and it's where they do their "work" (getting dressed, homework, play time, etc.).

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