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One of my first thoughts, on starting to consider this situation, was how higher levels of expertise (in the Dreyfus sense) relate to this. I wouldn't consider myself, in general, someone who has good/fast reactive abilities, but in my areas of expertise I often work quite comfortably even under pressure because I simply "do what I do," and don't need to think about it too much. However, when someone at a lesser level of expertise demands justification for my proposals, I typically cannot quickly come up with a good argument; it's generally hours or even days later I can formulate an explanation of why my proposed approach to the problem is a good one.
I'm not sure if the Dreyfus brothers have been discussed here before (it would seem likely, given my impression of the type of people here, but I'm new), but, given the field of the original poster, this is certainly an appropriate place to mention again Patricia Benner's From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice, as well as mention that this has been one of the most influential books I've read on my career as a software developer and sysadmin.