Not in my experience. If I'm coding, and I can demonstrate that I'm checking stuff into Git (or SVN or CVS or Clearcase), and I have something to demo every couple of days, they're happy, even if there's theoretically a faster way to get from point A to point B. On the other hand, if my only progress (for a whole day!) is "researching" some software, they go into full-blown panic mode. I've found this to be absolutely consistent over a career of now 25 years and 10 different employers.