

A solar panel that occasionally blocks a window would be completely useless the other part of the time.
A window permanently blocked by a solar panel is better known as a wall with a solar panel on it.
A vertical wall with a solar panel will not be as effective as one angled towards the sun, such as one on a roof might be.

Absolutely silly premise. Continuing the author’s analogy, how would pacing oneself in one marathon improve performance in the race tomorrow? What about next week (a race of indeterminate length)? Or next month (turns out will be a triathlon, but you don’t know it yet)?
It doesn’t, and the “races” that engineering teams run are more like those latter examples than they are like performance during a single marathon.