My cubicle is in a moderately high traffic area of my office. My previous years at corporate America taught me to always "act busy", "don't let the screen saver show up on your monitor", etc.

My current place of employment is not petty like this. I feel comfortable pushing away from the desk, leaning slightly back on my chair, and thinking. I intentionally let my mind wander for a few minutes till I have a moment of clarity on the problem I am working on. Then I am back against the desk typing away furiously.

I feel fortunate and grateful to have the time and space to simply ponder. Pondering is slow, often aimless. Pondering does not guarantee a solution to the problem. But I can't think of finding a creative solution to a problem without it. Without pondering, I am simply typing away towards a direction with no pause to check the quality of its trajectory.

I find interractions in today's fast-web world encouraging high-volume consumption now over quality interractions in a timely manner. Jack Cheng tackled this very topic in his 2012 article The Slow Web.

Replying to messages now has almost entirely replaced making plans to have a conversation over coffee later.

Replying to emails now is encouraged over taking time to really find the answer and produce it in a complete and succinct manner.

More meetings win while collaborations lose.

No one is going to write on their grave stones, "Answered hundreds of emails daily."