This is great. I've written previously about why I write as a researcher [1], but none of my reasons were this author's reason: that narrative structure clarifies understanding. This resonates with me because I've noticed that I remember blog posts better, that I understand the topic deeper, if I really flesh it out with narrative writing: why this model, who developed it, what are the alternatives, etc. It often feels like a waste of time initially, but I almost always find that the process makes me realize there are details I initially missed.
There are different kinds of narratives. What you're describing isn't really narrative, it's active critical investigation, which is a different process. It is indeed very useful for problem solving - not least because you can read your notes a year later, remind yourself see why you made specific decisions, and see options you considered and eliminated.
But there's also rhetorical narrative, which is used for persuasion, not clarification. Create a story with a good person and a bad person, or at least good actions and bad actions, append a heavyweight emotional hit of some kind, keep the language as simple as possible, and you'll have no trouble selling your point to at least some people - no matter how nonsensical it is to others.
This is how advertising, political spin, social media influence campaigns, and troll farms work.
It's also how thought leaders try to work, but luckily not many are experts in rhetoric.
It's incredibly powerful because the human brain uses narrative as a kind of alias for information transfer. As soon as an idea is packaged as a narrative - a story, parable, something about people - it immediately becomes much more persuasive than a plain statement of fact.
If you look at company culture it's almost invariably based on a narrative about the goals of the company and the kinds of people that fit in. Some founders deliberately engineer an appealing narrative and use it as a cover story for their own personal interests.
Point being not all narratives are benign, and story telling - not just writing - really can be a superpower. But that doesn't mean it's inherently positive.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22033792