What you've said is exactly my argument why there's no need to grind in Elite. You just don't have to. It's completely optional. People take shortcuts, because they want to finish upgrading ASAP, not realising they don't actually need it (unless they are all about PvP against already maxed out players). I don't think comparing Elite to DIablo is good way to go, because those games are too different - In Elite upgrading your gear is optional goal you can choose to pursue, but the game doesn't revolve around it.
Sure, this takes away something that game like Diablo has (this constant progress that player can chase), but that's the price for being a sandbox game - you choose what to do instead of the game showing you your next goal - this has that unfortunate effect that some people get bored when not tempted with next carrot, or when that carrot requires too much effort to get to. Games like Diablo are all about grind - Elite is not. That's why I'm baffled when people come into Elite and treat it like that, complaining that they must undergo that terrible grind, because they perceive something that supposed to be an optional long term goal, as obligatory carrot to catch.
I'm not saying that Odyssey progress is well balanced - it probably isn't - but you don't need to find those 40 polls to open some gameplay - you will probably just be able to install something that will make your game slightly easier. So what's the difference if it takes you longer? If doing the missions to get those mats bores someone, then having suits or weapons engineered won't help anything.
I mean, I would like to have night vision on my suit f.ex. But I can manage without it (i'm actually starting to think it's quite cool that way). If I get it after, let's say, a year of playing, then my game will change slightly and I'll have some new experience - if I'll be able to do it all in a week, then what's the point of it all? Some might say that there's not enough content, so Frontier is making it hard to get, to make it lasts longer - it might be true, but as I said, Elite is not about upgrading your gear indefinietly.