[simianwords]

These sound like good ideas. I guess I just don’t work in such companies and I think this is the norm unfortunately.

There are strict timelines that span months if not years, often optimised to a large extent. There is little room for spontaneity and organic projects to come up.

[pavel_lishin]

I've worked at companies where this sort of thing is encouraged, and others where I'd be afraid to even ask about the possibility of doing such a thing. Naturally it's a spectrum.

(Although, there is also the company that claims to encourage it, and then buries you in bureaucracy...)