Ask HN: What is an acceptable or normal busy-work overhead in your org

I'd like to poll this community to understand overheads you encounter in the business of delivering a software solution. By overhead I mean things that if they were cut would not impact the quality of the product you ship Some examples of overhead (and this is not exhaustive) might be - Preparing slideware or other collateral for checkpoint reviews, exec reviews including time spent reviewing them with other stakeholder ahead of the "final review" - Managing up, communicating status for the purpose of visibility and not so much to inform a relevant stakeholder Some examples of the reverse (i.e things that are core and not overhead) are - Designing the stuff including prototypes that are unsuccessful - Implementing solution, fixing bugs - Working with customers at requirements gathering time and later at each iteration of the product - etc. .... Love to hear. If possible, provide the following context and anything you find relevant Here's an example Company: BigCo Overhead: 40% Details: Feel free to add anything you might have about your product.