I've been lucky enough to have worked for companies where my habit of going off on a tangent and playing with stuff totally unrelated to my job spec is tolerated. I've gotten pretty good at taking my new toys and turning them into new products / services for the company, so when I'm off the beaten track poking stuff with a stick to see what it does, I get left alone long enough to see if any results are forthcoming. I therefore subscribe to the school of thought that says that it is, to a degree, up to the employee to prove benefit for a particular tool. If you can, the company you work for may just be happy enough to leave you to your new bag of tricks, so long as there are tangible results for the company in return. Win win? I like to think so. But maybe my bosses simply humour me until such time that they can find a monkey willing to work for fewer nuts ;)