This is a thought provoking essay. However, all these lessons came out of Bell Labs, which was an incredible outlier in terms of successful innovation funded by

This is a thought provoking essay. However, all these lessons came out of Bell Labs, which was an incredible outlier in terms of successful innovation funded by a telecommunications monopoly in the era spanning WWII. The advice therefore is of the 'All other things being equal variety'. Outside of very well funded enclaves of successful researchers with access to cutting edge tools and analytical expertise, I am not sure how useful it is.