The engineers had always conscientiously and scrupulously followed IBM’s official Corporate Product Procedure, as documented in a manual of more than 100 pages. Successful project managers in other labs made bold “exceptions” to the procedure rules at the right times; the secret to success was choosing wisely!3 I sent such an experienced procedure manipulator to manage the project. He enabled the strong talent there to realize its potential. The S/360 Model 20 became phenomenally successful.
