It's definitely a mediocre question, but I don't see why so many people get defensive about it. Is it really that hard to think of one or two personality traits

It's definitely a mediocre question, but I don't see why so many people get defensive about it. Is it really that hard to think of one or two personality traits that keep you from steamrolling through your day? My answers may very well be different in 5 or 10 years, but for now: 1) If someone asks me for a time estimate, I always try to immediately come up with a rough number, which never takes into account "the last 20% takes 80% of the work." I'm trying to get better at not committing before having a spec, but I still have that habit. 2) I tend to get lightly emotionally invested in the code I'm currently writing. If I've spent two or three days working on something and find out that the requirements have changed, or that I need to architect my solution a different way, I usually need to work on something different for a day before I go back to it - otherwise, I stress out about having just wasted that effort. Any interviewer that finds these answers unacceptable either shouldn't be asking the question, or is representing a company that I absolutely would not want to work for.