When I was a newbie engineer (ha!) I remember talking to senior engineers, and having a bit of trouble keeping up with the conversations. It didn't seem to flow

When I was a newbie engineer (ha!) I remember talking to senior engineers, and having a bit of trouble keeping up with the conversations. It didn't seem to flow right. I would try to agree or provide supporting/counter evidence and just couldn't keep tack of what direction we were heading. Now, I realize they were just thoughtful. While I was rushing to a destination, they were feeling out the problem. They knew how to handle the middle stage where sides haven't been chosen yet and bias is still settling. At first I took the phrase "well, let's think about that for a moment" as a trigger, but I've caught myself saying it a lot. They weren't implying that I hadn't already thought about it, but rather their way of slowing down and smelling the roses, in a technical way. And I can remember every time this led to a long discussion. Easily some of my favorite times working involved a senior engineer looking off and asking "well, let's take a closer look at this."