A few starter concepts to consider:

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Didn't find relevant HN article(s) covering age / creativity and software productivity and why software engineers tend to be under 30.

   *** Does Creativity Deline With Age? : https://ogg.osu.edu/media/documents/courses/700.04A/pdf/does_creativity_decline.PDF

-- Miscelaneous blurbs from recent HN posts about software design to keep in mind:

   *** Great scientists follow intuition and beauty, not rationality. : http://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/p/great-scientists-follow-intuition

   *** Software Design is Knowledge building:  http://olano.dev/blog/software-design-is-knowledge-building/

   *** Design leader Dilemma :  http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2024/12/the-design-leader-dilemma/

   *** On design prototyping : https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/on-design-prototyping-fb655e715f29

-- Different approach methods:

   ** Google 20% rule

      http://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/16/google-20-percent-rule-shows-exactly-how-much-time-you-should-spend-learning-new-skills.html


   ** One-on-Ones as way to figure this out

      http://hypercontext.com/one-on-one-meeting-guide

      http://www.dave-bailey.com/blog/one-on-ones

      http://lattice.com/articles/the-ultimate-managers-guide-to-leading-effective-one-on-ones

Use "google 20% rule" with employee suggested exploratory ideas/topic(s) from one-on-ones.

It depends on the size of the team, and how well you run meetings (agenda, specific issues to be discussed, how well these issues are written, precise topics), how large the project is, etc.

You can have a very tight feedback loop (sometimes writing experimental code and coming up with a proof-of-concept during the meeting) if you run a tight ship.

To me, this is a social "problem" not a technical one and on the face of it it sounds more like more work than less work for individuals. If that's the case, it is probably dead to everyone who would rather spend their free time away from work than at work.

And if this is not strongly backed by upper management, it is almost certainly dead before arrival.

Of course, you might be upper management (I have no way of telling). Good luck.