[leeber]

I probably spend just as much or more time sitting, thinking, and staring at partially written code, than I do actually writing the code. It's frustrating when you have superiors who don't understand that time spent thinking is just as productive as time spent typing.

That's just my personal style, although I've never worked in "large" teams on a single codebase so can't comment on what styles work best in those situations.

[mVChr]

The best analogy I heard for communicating this to superiors is that programming is like doing a crossword puzzle. 95% of the time you're doing a crossword you're not writing but that doesn't mean you're not intensely working on solving the puzzle.

[GFK_of_xmaspast]

You need to get better at crosswords.

[mVChr]

I'm talking NYTimes Sunday crossword here, not your in-flight magazine.