I love this example! The unforeseen synergies of different methods attempting the same outcome cannot be overstated enough in my opinion. Each strategy has its own diminishing returns, and stacking them covers gaps each has.
I think a great illustration of this today are SLaM methods that almost always seem to combine a low-drift high-noise technique with one that is high-drift and low-noise.
I think where parallel discovery really shines is in operational excellence. Your best people have high tolerances for certain aspects of the work, the craft, and low tolerances for others. But to industrialize it needs to be accessible to tens of thousands, and they don’t have time for this shit.
I expect that was a lot of the speed up. You can’t do eight wells a week if every well exhausts your team. Better working conditions mean faster cycling. Hell I bet whoever brought the best “Gatorade”, masseuse, and entertainment deserves more credit than they ever got.