As engineers, we are spoiled in that we are accustomed to (1) navigating high signal:noise ratio environments (2) systematically improving the signal:noise rati

As engineers, we are spoiled in that we are accustomed to (1) navigating high signal:noise ratio environments (2) systematically improving the signal:noise ratio in environments where it’s poor. On (1), many corporate meeting rooms have terrible ratios, and so they intuitively feel unproductive. On (2), it’s much easier to improve the ratio in code than it is in words spoken by people. It requires a lot of patience, but in the long game, engineers do improve that ratio in meetings and strategy discussions, and the company benefits from it. My theory is that most engineers are not interested in playing the long game, because (1) it’s not as fun (2) they don’t plan on being at the company on time scales where the investment will have been worth it. While I personally don’t emulate their behavior, I think the developers you describe could conceivably be acting perfectly rational for their career goals.