I recall the steve jobs method of figuring out if people are good employees... He tells their coworkers "I heard so-and-so is shit", and if the person is loudl

I recall the steve jobs method of figuring out if people are good employees... He tells their coworkers "I heard so-and-so is shit", and if the person is loudly defended, he might be ok. If not, he might not be that good. Maybe this is a way of doing the same thing. If people defend funding something strongly, it might deserve it, and if not...