An academic-style sabbatical would not work in the current software development ecosystem because, unlike tenured professors, top software developers cannot be

An academic-style sabbatical would not work in the current software development ecosystem because, unlike tenured professors, top software developers cannot be trusted to stay with the same organization after the sabbatical. Universities can get away with this because a tenured professor has already contributed a lot of value to the university (a requirement for getting tenure) and can be trusted to return. I don't see how this could be adapted short of formally contracting software developers for a period of multiple years and forcing the developer to pay a large amount of money should they break the contract early. I don't imagine many top developers would like the restrictions this imposed.