You could do a PhD or just work in a research environment where they support the staff taking time to do these deep dives. My experience has been that research

You could do a PhD or just work in a research environment where they support the staff taking time to do these deep dives. My experience has been that research teams allow their members to organize their work however suits them, if that's stories then do stories, if it isn't then no stories needed. Edit: I should note either of these will probably involve a pay cut.