I'm in the same place, too. I came in and inherited lots of not so elegant solutions that could be made very svelte. We are getting there to make it so but it is slowed by the todo list. Sometimes it may be that workers have the ability to just take the time out of a day to explore, depending on the culture. Other times it is just "get it done." A little thinking can go a little ways but I believe a lot of thinking up from can go a really long way for the solution.