How Much Time Would You Spend on an Idea?

i'm a huge believer in what i call a fast first cut. I think there's almost always a way to get some idea within a day about whether you have a good ace of succeeding or failing. When i was agrad school, david leaveson told us, many projects are worth two weeks. Few projects are worth six months. Em, steve, is there a place where this stuff should go? Is it something that academic should value? Because i'd be shocked if any academic department would value faculty writing up a bunch of interesting null findings.