Yes, I think it is a lot like simulated annealing, with rounds of the following:

0. internal stresses exist = mutter "look at all these contradictions and warts"; start rethinking assumptions

1. raise temperature = get creative and start brainstorming; new possibilities and combinations present themselves

2. decrease in free energy = do a bunch of prototyping; some radical simplifications or changes of perspective present themselves

3. lower temperature = realize some details are still messy, some ideas were bad; get more conservative and start weeding out stuff

4. repeat until you have to ship