Readers of this blog know that I believe serendipity is a key element of fundamental research. There is something neatly paradoxical about this claim. We might like ‘key elements’ to be plannable so that we can account for them on budgets and balance sheets. But here is an element that I think can make a huge difference to the quality of our scientific work yet that is pretty much the antithesis of gantt charts, KPIs and work packages. (Then again, who has ever thought that gantt charts c...
