I'm a person who just plain can't think in front of the code. Whenever I need to design something, I need to take pen and some paper, or go use a whiteboard, or go outside and take a walk, or sometimes take a shower (I use a waterproof notepad to write down ideas there).

I always struggled with this, seeing how my friends can sit for 8h/day in front of computers coding good stuff, and I need to take walks outside every time I need to think something through. It's good and reassuring to find that there are others in this situation as well.

I find my most innovative thinking happens in the shower. So I bought a diver's board to write notes or ideas down in there. I think it was $6 on amazon.