I read the article as speaking more about (1) developing a disciplined mindset, and (2) applying that to coding in the context of game development. For me, the

I read the article as speaking more about (1) developing a disciplined mindset, and (2) applying that to coding in the context of game development. For me, the article is a reminder that productivity is a mentality and commitment, rather than a metric. Were you to apply the mentality of "get work done productively" to other domains such social / mobile, IT, or ecommerce, you get a different approach, which is exactly what you described: taking an 80/20 approach of coding and designing, optimizing for team productivity rather than individual.