Hey, author of the article here!
I was testing for evenness of cooking as a function of letting the steaks temper at room temperature before cooking. To do that, I needed steaks that were cooked to the same internal temperature. Timing is a bad way to measure how cooked a steak is.
The idea is that some folks say by tempering a steak you end up with a more evenly cooked steak than if you don't temper it. Having tested this dozens of times in controlled settings, I can say with confidence that this is not true and that there is no real advantage to tempering a steak.
I think if you look through my profile and history you might find that I know a thing or two about steaks. Have you heard of a method called the reverse-sear? It's a pretty modern method of cooking steak where you start it at a lower temperature (say, an oven), then finish it over really high heat to brown the exterior. It gets widely written about and used. I was the guy who first published that technique in a 2007 issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine.
I've also written many guides on the subject of steaks:
Complete Guide to Pan Seared Steak
Why Flipping Multiple Times Gives You Better Steak
On Torching and Sous-Vide Cooking
Complete Guide to Dry Aging At Home
etc etc. Anyhow, point is, Im no slouch in steak-cooking, but you don't have to take my word for it. If you don't believe me, it's a really easy experiment to set up for yourself at home!