A dev displays leadership by delivering great software. I'm not saying other types of leaders don't have to talk, but I just wish people could grasp that a developer ships software by sitting and working at a computer for a very long time, sometimes up to 12 hours a day. Doing social visits and meetings is time that a dev is not delivering. If a developer stops developing software so they can spend the majority of his or her time with face-to-face visits and meetings, that person is no longer working in a developer role.
No one seems to believe this, but developers have to develop software at some point. There is no way around it, no one else is going to write the code, make the tests, etc. In the business world unfortunately, people drop out development but keep calling themselves developers. A developer leader is someone who delivers software.
While I agree with delivering great software, I disagree with the notion of spending ages at the computer being the right kind of tool in a variety of circumstances. Often thinking stuff over well will decrease the time you have to spend coding. (And that can include thinking together with a colleague.)
I think we do not so much disagree in the essence, but just in the amount of hyperbole.
(As a snarky aside, I almost never sit at my computer. Sitting kills you. I might be able to do 12h at a standing desk, but no way I'd manage to do that sitting down. Though my eyes (and brain) will give out long before that.)
