tl;dr: Engineers should aim for ~80% utilization rather than constantly grinding tickets, because high-impact work (unblocking deals, mitigating incidents, shipping key features) is time-dependent and requires available capacity, attention, and visibility to managers. Staying "loose" lets you notice opportunities, get tagged into important work, and respond calmly under pressure. The author also advises declining glue work, resisting backchannel requests for uncompensated labor, and delaying work on unstable requirements—reserving full-intensity effort for the two or three times a year when stakes are genuinely high.