Thomas,
I have seen it written somewhere by architects, probably some golden age and maybe even in one of Tom Doak's books, but not sure. It just sounds like some architect trying to make it all sound more mysterious than it is. Not a lot of real magic, just hard work to really get details good to great, strategically speaking.
I thought about it and can't recall starting in the middle, although it isn't inconceivable. As to looking from far right or far left, I visited Pete Dye on a job once. Client asked what he was going to do. He paces around, looking from all sorts of odd angle, way left, way right, nearby hill, etc. He does this until the client gets tired and walks away, and then tells me he knows exactly what he is going to do. All part of the myth making.
On the other side of the coin, the Tour Pros I have worked with tend not to look at big picture strategy like I do. They wander around to specific spots and ask "What happens if I hit it here? Do I have a shot?" I started a topic on that years ago. I hate that concept of designing, trying to eliminate every sort of "unfair" shot. Can't be done.