Completely agree with the author.

> This is contrary to my belief that any digital design process should start with rough sketches, but move quickly into code and iterate from there.

As a dev, this is the point I resonate with the most.

To me, the ideal dev <> designer interaction is collaborative and iterative. But the current state of affairs is one where all the design is done upfront, and little is done in terms of explaining why some choices were made. Mockups are not a good medium to spark discussions in the team, because developers are left in the dark about intent.