I personally have never found collaborative work all that deep. At least not the kind that necessitates constant communications. The interruptions are simply too much for me. I can never achieve the flow state I like. It also makes me try and come up with solutions during the communications. Most of the time I have to step away and do something else with difficult problems - let the background processor work. That is just likely my style - not for everybody.
I wonder if this relates to how comfortable people are with silence? Sometimes one or the other person can feel anxious in the presence of silence because it does not fit the profile of "work being done".
People often dismiss pure thought as effort. But when you think about it that is all programming really is. I worked with a person that started his programming career using cards. Even though his current job provided him a nice editor and build system he would write his program and simply execute in his head for the longest time before even attempting to compile it. He would then make a couple of changes and he was done.
Collaboration is definitely deep work. I think the key is whether the meeting is focused on the work or accessory to it. Keeping a manager updated is annoying because its not real work, its just someone checking up on you.