The informal approach to managing technical projects achieved its most famous incarnation at Hewlett-Packard with the concept of “management by wandering around,” which was later popularized by Tom Peters’s In Search of Excellence. This rigorous methodology requires managers to leave their offices, visit workers in their dens, and chat them up. “How’s it going?” may not sound like the most incisive or analytical line of inquiry, but management by wandering (or walking) around was revolutionary in its way: It suggested that it was less important for managers to pore over ledgers than for them
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