I'll throw my hat in the ring for "disagree". Few kinds of work have such clear and unambiguous results as optimization work (its now X% faster!). Few kinds of work have such incredible and detailed tools to guide your hand in finding where to invest your effort (look at this hot loop!).
The fact that sometimes optimization work is tricky or requires some pre-thinking, or is even gasp counter-intuitive is such a hilarious way to say "this is hard". That's just table stakes starting points for so-so-so much work.
Edit: Heck, even deciding whether to prioritize optimization work or feature work is usually a harder problem than the actual optimization work itself.
The fact that sometimes optimization work is tricky or requires some pre-thinking, or is even gasp counter-intuitive is such a hilarious way to say "this is hard". That's just table stakes starting points for so-so-so much work.
Edit: Heck, even deciding whether to prioritize optimization work or feature work is usually a harder problem than the actual optimization work itself.