Via Alan Lovejoy, I found this post from Jeffrey Massung - there's lots of good stuff on development there, but this is the point I wanted to highlight:

Let me state this unequivocally: Smalltalk is an application language! It's about creating applications; it's not about creating code. And there is a world of difference between the two. It's about removing the mundane barriers from the programmer so that he or she can focus on the real-deal, get it done, and move onto the next task.

That's the key thing about Smalltalk and productivity, actually - it gets out of your way and lets you focus on the actual problem, rather than on the infrastructure. It's why people like James McGovern are forever stumbling in the dark, never quite understanding why productivity levels are so low where they work:

Statically typed languages work better for the masses of unmotivated programmers that fill the corridors of large enterprises. They desire for computers to catch their mistakes. Likewise the notion of any enterprise caring about individual productivity of their developers is long gone. If enterprises continue to outsource to places such as India where folks may have lots of academic credentials but otherwise are horrific at software development (overgeneralization) then the ability to at least ensure that the code when it comes back that it can compile becomes crucial.

When your standards and expectations are under the floorboards, you'll dismiss anything that looks like it might create some islands of productivity. Better to let the entire ship sink than to let anyone have fun and be creative.

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