I think what I was trying to say is that the best performers attempt to understand the problem domain more holistically than, say, more average performers. Wha

I think what I was trying to say is that the best performers attempt to understand the problem domain more holistically than, say, more average performers. What are the forces driving all of this and how do I deal with those forces in the most efficient way. Obviously, a dramatically more productive engineer also has deep experience is probably many toolsets, languages, etc., and that experience informs many of the decisions that they make when crafting a solution. However, I would argue that they have forgotten many of the picayune details of each, and only retain the most useful conceptual capabilities of those experiences so they can apply them quickly to some new and (seemingly) unrelated problem.