I think that's what Larry Wall once described as his workflow. You get a problem, but you don't start working on it. Instead, you just procrastinate but slowly you'll think about the problem every now and then. You basically let it brew for some time, and at some point, the problem and solution will become clear.

(I could misremember who said this).

Contrast with the "Feynman approach" described by Gell-Mann:

Write down the problem, think real hard, write down the solution

EDIT: Formatting