"While I think time spent in evaluation usually gives you far more time than you put in,...etc." In the context of reality, it does not really have a meaning. It is one of those poorly constructed sentences that we sometimes encounter. Realistically, it is an impossibility actually gain time by spending it. Time is a continuum. Time is neither decreased or increased in a realistic sense. We only write of what we do with our Time in a figurative way. Time has a cyclic period shorter then our periods of perception. Evaluation can be a means of acquiring knowledge or data; but it is not going to increase Time. The author of the sentence may have become a little confused concerning what they intended to communicate. .