Sidebars and random discussions of off topic issues even non work related can be more informative and become extremely work related very easily when you work in an office of dorks like most of us. From a management perspective you learn so much more about your groups functional and disfuntional aspects. They also are not thinking you are watching them when you come around often. If you see your boss often you no longer go 'crap, boss on deck!' Regular communication with your peers aids in your own brainstorming and thinking adventures. If you are arogant enough to say you know it all and can write perfect code\script\documentation then i scoff at you. The power of a group of programmers\dbas\technical writers is that each of them bring something different to the table.

I have learned more from our sidebar discussions than i have from some of the weeklong training courses. I have also learned more from sidebards with instructors than i have from the rest of a training session.

Never corner yourself into your own cube. It gets very lonely 🙂