I'm talking about engineering, not manufacturing. I'm not suggesting not thinking, I'm saying that you cannot design every aspect of a system without learning more about the design. It's just a restatement of "Gall's law" (in scare quotes because it's obviously not an actual law). Alternatively it's the obvious way of working given the principles espoused in the agile manifesto.

Your absolutism is at odds with reality. Engineering and manufacturing are literally joined at the hip, and both require a significant amount of planning. If you disagree with this, well, good luck with your engineering career, is all I can say!

Precisely! The idea that you can set down the requirements and all the design decisions before you even start thinking about the implementation is completely flawed.

The engineering/manufacturing dichotomy was just with respect to your statement about carpenters. Even then, expediency on the part of the manufacturer will often result in design changes.