> For a physics experiment, virtually everything is custom made and you only have budget for a few fixes or trials on each component.

I'm actually speaking from my experience in experimental physics (solid state) labs. Certainly, you can't just have teams of two entirely deciding what to do independently of the group, but the level of control and dictation Martinis is speaking about seems like a whole different level.

He got pissed just because a theorist tried to come up with an alternate way of doing this wiring and the lab leader didn't shut it down in favor of just him researching the problem.

Smart comment. I work at a large lab that does cutting-edge hardware development. The slow buildup of fabrication and fundamental-physics know-how is hard for someone who has mostly worked on software to appreciate. To realize these breakthroughs, you need to plan at the decade time scale.