Of course, to PHBs the only way to think is while looking very busy. I figure that the "feet up on the desk while drinking coffee" and "tic-tak-toe like notes" were periods of thinking. Not goofing off. When you hit the mental wall it is necessary to disengage so you can come at a problem from a different angle. For that matter, many salaried staff don't get formal breaks. There may not be anywhere in the workspace to go to recharge your metal batteries. Beware taking a break in your cube. A few minutes of "non-work" activities are all any boss or co-worker remembers There has been some mention of collecting user interviews. To my mind this is only the start of the process. Just letting the user type in whatever the are used to writing down does not go far enough. Frequently the user really does not know what they want or even what is possible. The next step is to understand the entire process and purpose of the data collection and reports. This is usually the part where dramatic simplification can happen. This is where *I* spend the most time thinking and scribbling. Mark Browne <snip> Then I figure we must have read the story differently. To me, the idea of goofing off for two months and then whipping out a 500 line program seems lame. <Snip>