Aosto
Sage
Outlining lets you build a stronger story where all of those scenes are directed towards building to the ending. I think it's far more contrived to write yourself into "nowhere," decide that the book needs to end, and then force things to come together in a way they were never building towards.
An outline can be three sentences. It can be fifteen pages. It should be flexible. But I think, the more complex your story, the more you need to outline for it to work. Not every story needs to be all that complex. But Song of Ice and Fire? Harry Potter? Lord of the Rings? All of those required an outline. Absolutely.
I disagree with this. I've watched interviews with Martin and he expressed that his writing was mostly discovery writing. Jk Rowling may have done world building but also expressed that she just wrote.