My husband is given quite a bit of leeway. He’s not strictly an inventor any more so his work is more task based. He travels the world and fixes things so oil rigs don’t fail and ships don’t crash. His mangers have to have faith in him that he’s not wasting time and that his outcomes are the best for the customer and the company. The managers don’t know how to fix the equipment and have it successfully integrated with the masses of other equipment based on the rigs and ships, and neither to the captains or the drilling companies. Before he leaves a job, he has to provide a report to satisfy the company he works for and the ship’s captain or rig management and he has to show that the equipment now works… or what has to be done as far as replacement and upgrades go and a time and plan schedule for that.
He hates reports, but he has gotten good at them. He’s also had to become more patient at explaining things and liaising with people who have no clue or become very controlling and rude. He has to manage this in several languages, many of which his managers don’t speak.
They do give him some leeway, as I said. Because of the travelling he does, he can add a day here or there and play tourist, or he’ll end up playing tourist while he waits for a part or a key person to arrive or some key work to be finished. As long as he gets the job done and doesn’t add several days of sitting on his arse with lodging and expenses for no reason, they leave him to it.
The people who control the money strings will certainly have a handle on what they expect, you can be sure of that. They want their pound of flesh.