However, a report from the New York Times countered this notion with a report that stated research by psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Gregory Feist strongly suggested that people were more creative when they enjoyed privacy and freedom from interruption. The most amazingly creative people in a number of fields are often introverted. The theory supports the words of Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple—“If you’re that rare engineer who’s an inventor and also an artist, I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: Work alone.” His book iWoz explained the basis for his theory, stating “When you’re working for a large, structured company, there’s much less leeway to turn clever ideas into revolutionary new products or product features by yourself. You’re going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you’re working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on a team.”

The report from TechCrunch gave credit to the Hacker News report and commentary about office spaces which were designed to provide people the least possible privacy. According to the report, the spaces strove to erode people’s “fight or flight” instincts, and in the process, their creativity as well.

Now although coding is not a particularly creative process, it has one thing in common with more carpentry as well as with art—the requirement for mechanical skill upon which creative flourishes can be added.

So where does this take us?