[crdoconnor]

It's better to lose yourself, IMO. I've been most productive when working with product managers who delivered crystal clear user stories and precisely ordered priorities and took pressure off me having to deal with "that side" of the business.

If I have to deal with ambiguous specifications, vague priorities and to fill in the gaps I need to start modeling the business's needs, operational structure and priorities in order to make appropriate decisions then that means I have fewer cognitive resources to deal with the actual coding.

i.e. it's not just code that needs to be loosely coupled, it's businesses.