Answer: Namely, because he is a fictitious character.
The article writers contention that programmers should also have solid HCI knowledge is not necessarily unreasonable, but the comparison to "2 meetings a week, and in a year..." is just ridiculous. Perhaps it was intended to be over the top, but division of labor exists for a good reason. What we really need are amazing back-end and interface engineers who can work with eachother effectively. That, and, as we are seeing with the iPhone becoming mainstream, a cultural willingness to put in extra work on the UI because it matters.
The article writers contention that programmers should also have solid HCI knowledge is not necessarily unreasonable, but the comparison to "2 meetings a week, and in a year..." is just ridiculous. Perhaps it was intended to be over the top, but division of labor exists for a good reason. What we really need are amazing back-end and interface engineers who can work with eachother effectively. That, and, as we are seeing with the iPhone becoming mainstream, a cultural willingness to put in extra work on the UI because it matters.