I'd like to balance on the importance of the flow state.
Maybe it's just me, but the more I learn about how I work, the more I force myself to interrupt myself regularly.
I find it is very easy to go deep down chasing a bug only to realize later that different paths are available.
Being able to work deep is important, but I find that pausing regularly to reflect on the work done and the target is equally important.
When I work in pomodoros I can take short breaks every 30 mins and they seem to help - precisely due to the stepping back and rethinking you mentioned.
Other people have commented to me how context switching is not so hard for them.
I think there is a “deep flow” state, but it’s not actually so productive - you just feel focused and do a lot of work, but it might not actually be in the most efficient direction.
So I feel there’s this trade off between “flow” and “managing yourself”. I guess hackers of repute just flow so much they compensate for their lack of self management.