I've gone from loving Flow state early in my career, to being cautious about it, to watching with suspicion and dread the behavior of my coworkers to see if they are making decisions based on opportunities to engage in it instead of rational thought. For some it seems like a form of thrill seeking.

When you are in flow state you are producing a lot of output but aren't asking any questions. That turns into big, solid chunks of the system with no oversight, no consensus, no introspection, no empathy. And when someone does ask questions - because who wouldn't? - we aren't questioning a small isolated part of the architecture, we're questioning a very big piece. One that the author feels very warm feelings about because they had An Experience while writing it.

Flow state is useful, possibly great for refactoring. It's occasionally a waking nightmare for new code, and not a great experience for everyone else the rest of the time.