Innovating Under a Deadline – How?

For those of you working as engineers, scientists or developers: how do you reconcile the time-indeterminate process of creative discovery versus the deadline-driven nature of business?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from anyone who is responsible for inventing new and non-trivial things at their company, while meeting growth targets, investor expectations, etc. I find it hard to determine how long it will take to design and create something that literally doesn’t exist.

I work in a technical leadership roll at a startup where I’m responsible for inventing and scaling our tech (in both soft and hardware). Commitments to customers and investors are made by others, and we’re always struggling to innovate and deliver reliable tech in time.