There's a narrative that gets passed around in physics circles about how the Soviets were better at finding creative and analytical solutions than Americans, because of the relative scarcity of computing versus intellectual labour resources.

It would make sense to me that a parallel mechanism could apply to Soviet engineering. If material and technologically advanced capital are scarce, but engineers are abundant, you would naturally spend more time doing proper engineering, which means figuring out how to squeeze the most out of what you have available.