Talking, Typing, Thinking: Software Is Not a Desk Job

We have a generation of management that doesn't understand this because a lot of their work didn't involve the intersection of technical and creative thinking, nor do they understand technology.

Some of my best work occurs in the shower, laying in bed, in the restroom, browsing articles that generate ideas, having a casual chat, etc. but if I'm not pounding code or diagrams out at a certain velocity or sitting in meetings, someone who doesn't understand my job will wonder exactly what I'm getting paid for.

For a country so obsessed with migrating to IP based economics, we have a business culture that seems to understand nothing about intellectual work or want to play ignorant to slave drive more efficiency out of the workforce.

Yes, I do bill time I'm thinking about your project while I'm the shower. It may not be tangible to you but your work is occupying my mind and you're getting some of my best thoughts.

We need business culture and labor laws to shift to support this, the issue is, the intangible nature of it makes businesses cringe because it's difficult to quantity and know they're not being cheated, yet they sell the very same intangibles to consumers regularly set at arbitrary price points and that's perfectly fine.

This is the question to dwell on I think. I don't know if there are mental ergonomics that apply universally, or even ones that generalise well. For me, I recognise that I think well when I'm physically engaged in some other non-cognitive task, like walking, running, showering, etc.

Another key factor is eliminating the risk of interruptions. I know when I'm at my desk I'm likely to get interrupted, but times and spaces that are interruption free seem to encourage the deepest thought.

whiteboard and notebook. 3D printer.

They didn't call it the peripatetic school for nothing. There are also cases of patients with speech aphasia who can speak while walking, but can't while at rest; it turns out that brain structures for speech and locomotion are interrelated.

There is no substance here at all. Making software is still very much a desk job and author only mentions "ergonomics of thinking" without giving any concrete ideas at all. If it is news to you that making software requires thinking then I am very worried what you have had delivered before this. As others have mentioned the reason why developers optimize for ergonomics of coding instead of thinking is because that is what can do. Even if you do your best thinking in a lazy boy while smoking hash that is probably not optimal state for developing software.