When you are at the edge of technology a lot of the initial tasks are the smart people go off and think for a few weeks or months. Talking amongst themselves b

When you are at the edge of technology a lot of the initial tasks are the smart people go off and think for a few weeks or months. Talking amongst themselves but not necessarily producing visible things. Just updating their mental state as they search solution space for the best achievable answer. Now, I have worked in a place where that time was accounted for and allowed, but most places the value of it seems lost on management.