When the audience is engineers who pay for something specific, the exploratory phase is the chance to try throwaway concepts, expecting to throw them away, and have fun with it.

when your target audience is engineers that expect something, they pay for something very specific. The exploratory phase becomes the opportunity for a designer to try out some of these more throwaway concepts. And I think you need to go into it expecting to fully throw them away, but to try it and to have fun with it.