Spiking is great as just a general development process even if you don't have tickets/time-boxed items just for them. For example in Basecamp's "Shape Up" proce

Spiking is great as just a general development process even if you don't have tickets/time-boxed items just for them. For example in Basecamp's "Shape Up" process spiking may be an initial uphill technique used to suss out the rest of the cycle's work and uncover all the hidden issues. Basically, you blaze a trail to the most disgusting, kluge-y, and otherwise slapdash implementation that validates your assumptions and satisfies your constraints while making note of everything that needs further work. That lets you bail early if some unknown issue will block success given the current criteria and constraints, and sets you up with the a list of the 80/20 work required to deliver the completed project.