I had the great -- and lucky -- benefit of falling into a well established research community -- ARPA-IPTO -- in the 60s with roots going back into the 50s and 40s. They "knew how to make progress" and I learned most of what little I understand about "process" from growing up in it.

Here is a little tribute essay I wrote for this research community in 2004: http://www.vpri.org/pdf/m2004001_power.pdf