&quot;Ahhh, the old &quot;ideas during casual talking&quot; trope. In all my years I&#x27;ve never seen anything of significance come out of people talking over lunch - for most companies, the concept of unexpected collaboration based on overhearing something in the office just isn&#x27;t true and is mostly not required.&quot;<p>I&#x27;ve done a lot of - perhaps even most - learning from talking to people who are better than me, whether it&#x27;s over lunch, a drink, or during work.  You can&#x27;t disentangle casual chats and official meetings; in most companies you&#x27;re not going to be allowed to just book an hour or two of meetings to discuss random stuff in the hope you&#x27;ll learn something you might be able to apply to this project.