Basic research is different. In research and invention there is no boxtop to build from. The visualization process that works for overall management does not work in creative endeavors like these. The puzzles encountered in research and invention resemble the challenge presented by a jigsaw puzzle when the top of the box has been hidden away before the pieces are dumped on the table. When this happens, intuition becomes the key.
Intuition causes one to look at the pieces for likely corners or parts of an edge.
These promise a framework and reference for other pieces. From them, you can work inwards to approach a first glimmer of the picture to be recreated. It sparks a more confident process of trial and error to accelerate the solution of a puzzle with a large number of pieces. The ultimate jigsaw puzzle comes in a box from which the boxtop and many pieces have been lost. This gives you another way of attacking a problem that does not resolve itself neatly with the scientific method.