@wild_cube @Virginicus @xinit @Tattooed_Mummy @FeloniousPunk Quite so! I'm a programmer. The coding goes faster, and the result is better, when I plan things out in advance.

I don't often have the discipline to write a brief user manual (I'm a old-guard Unix guy so that means a traditional manual entry) before I leap into coding, but when I do, that makes the process better too.

A general case for all the above: if you can't explain something to someone else, you don't really understand it. Writing it down, even just for yourself, requires explaining it to someone else. At least if you take writing seriously.

And there, I think, is the root of the problem. Taking writing or coding or any other work seriously is hard, and people keep looking for short cuts. Too often the short cuts also short-cut the thinking and planning that make the result any good.