On the opposite side of the spectrum, for the sake of fitting workouts into my schedule, I sometimes do them at a very slow pace over the course of a few hours

On the opposite side of the spectrum, for the sake of fitting workouts into my schedule, I sometimes do them at a very slow pace over the course of a few hours or sometimes even a whole day. I have my little gym setup right next to my desk in my office, so I'll just go over and do a set or two when I need a quick break or the tests are running or whatever (it beats wasting time on Twitter or HN). This sometimes means resting for a few minutes between sets, sometimes fifteen minutes, and sometimes an hour or more. The results at the end of the day don't seem very different at all in terms of how I feel physically or the rate of improvement compared to doing more efficient workouts with the "right" amount of rest. So I'm inclined to agree with you that just getting the volume in one way or another is by far the most important thing, at least until someone is quite advanced.