Doing some research for a work problem can be a lot of fun. You get to try new tools and techniques without having to worry about things like long term maintenance, data integrity, or recovery strategies, at least for a while. Whatever you’re learning about it’s generally for a specific business purpose like figuring out a new data store, trying out a new library or language, or doing a spike on some potential new architecture.

It’s very easy to get distracted by the possibilities and forget what the purpose of the exercise is. If you’re about to go down a rabbit hole ask yourself if it’s actually related to what you’re trying to figure out. If it’s something that seems fun or interesting to know but not directly relevant then make a note to come back to it later once you’ve covered everything else.

Definitely do follow up! Learning interesting new ways of looking at or thinking about a problem is always good even if it’s not directly relevant right now. Just make sure that you get the current work done first.