Can't speak for management, but they could've seen it as funding open-ended research. Give a bunch of nerds freedom from shipping dates, deadlines, adoption pl

Can't speak for management, but they could've seen it as funding open-ended research. Give a bunch of nerds freedom from shipping dates, deadlines, adoption plans, customer demands, and other such things that they always complain about, then see what they come up with. It's expected that this kind of strategy will yield nothing most of the time, but eventually you get a positive Black Swan.