[vinceguidry]

It sounds a lot like the 'brown M&Ms' heuristic translated to a management style. A strategy grown organically out of a chaotic environment, born out of the need to operate effectively with incomplete information and the inability to properly delegate.

It's not something you can abstract and make into a general management principle because it's effectively a hack. The culture of Microsoft allowed Bill to do this, whereas anyone else in any other organization would have not been able to employ it effectively.