> Architects draw detailed plans before a brick is laid or a nail is hammered. But few programmers write even a rough sketch of what their programs will do befo

> Architects draw detailed plans before a brick is laid or a nail is hammered. But few programmers write even a rough sketch of what their programs will do before they start coding. Is the second sentence here true in any meaningful way? Usually when I start on a personal project that is bigger than a oneliner or a script and more novel than a web page I've been thinking about it for weeks and have made a few sketches of the architecture and key data models and even then I start with a rough outline of the code ready to throw it away. I don't think everyone does like me but it would surprise me if most professional programmers doesn't make some kind of sketch before starting on a project..? Either I'm really unusually professional (I don't think so) or this article has a weak starting point.