[PeterStuer]

Allow me to counterpoint. Every creative engineering profession needs interacting (not just 'talking and listening', but also observing and even acting into the user domain to understand and feel the needs and opportunities). Every solution design needs modeling and thinking and sometimes things benefit from being written down in other forms than code (even though code that is written to be understood can be infinitely better than hacks with comments and elegant interaction design hopefully obsoleted the need for a 'readme'). However, I've seen many doing those things; talking, listening, thinking, modeling and writing, day in and day out, without ever getting beyond a stack of paper.

Producing the system, the working code, is not something you do at the end. It is an integral part of the process. It is the place that forces you to not gloss over gaping holes or contradictions in your modeling. It forces you to be clear and complete about your supposed understanding. It forces the trade-offs rather than the sunny day 'we can have both' situations.

And yes, I also do very productive thinking in the shower and sauna, but at the end of the day, no matter the fantasies, the desk is our habitat.

[danielfone]

> the desk is our habitat

Well put. I agree this is the reality, fantasies aside. No doubt many of us have very productive and effective careers without much leaving the desk. But I like to think that there is fertile ground beyond our natural habitat too, and some of us (like myself) need the encouragement to explore it. At the end of the day though, we'll still need to return to our desk habitat and deliver what we set out to.