The author obviously draws on own experience, thus the conclusions. However, an important aspect is the team and the process, not just the dev and their behavioral patterns.
If a "loosely-spec'ed" feature is assigned to a single dev for implementation, then there must be either reasonable expectation that it could be delivered solo or that the blanks are not critical for the result.
Either way, such "pattern" of a supposed dev-vs-team antagonism may be pointing rather at process deficiencies or disbalanced expectations from management.
When team management believes that all is clear as day and could be done in a week-span, the devs may have a hard time affording themselves a prototype just to figure out what is there to do, so delaying the feature delivery is a simple hedge.
If a "loosely-spec'ed" feature is assigned to a single dev for implementation, then there must be either reasonable expectation that it could be delivered solo or that the blanks are not critical for the result.
Either way, such "pattern" of a supposed dev-vs-team antagonism may be pointing rather at process deficiencies or disbalanced expectations from management.
When team management believes that all is clear as day and could be done in a week-span, the devs may have a hard time affording themselves a prototype just to figure out what is there to do, so delaying the feature delivery is a simple hedge.