Plan-and-implement versus test-and-learn:

David Epstein:

"What Ibarra calls the 'plan-and-implement' model - the idea that we should first make a long-term plan and execute without deviation, as opposed to the 'test-and-learn' model - is entrenched in depictions of geniuses. Popular lore holds that sculptor Michelangelo would see a full figure in a block of marble before he ever touched it, and simply chip away the excess stone to free the figure inside. It is an exquisite beautiful image. It just isn't true. Art historian William Wallace showed that Michelangelo was actually a test-and-learn all-star. He constantly changed his mind and altered his sculptural plans as he worked. He left three-fifths of his sculptures unfinished, each time moving on to something more promising."

[Also see: Switching, Early Exploration & Late Exploitation]