Slava Paperno: How free was each researcher, each staff scientist, to decide what to do, what study to conduct, if it wasn't specified in the plan?
G.N. Lepeshkin: The plan clearly spelled out what each expert was to do and what his functions were. And there was not to be any deviation from the plan, because the overall design would be disrupted.
Paperno: Even if they noticed that there was some mistake or problem in the plan, in the program that was drawn up? Were they supposed to keep going anyway?
Lepeshkin: No.
Paperno: Or could they object or revise it?
Lepeshkin: All of these mistakes were dealt with in the plan approval phase. After everything was verified and approved, the plan would be signed and became the binding document.