What is the path from policy intent to administrative reform, and conversely how do reform paths affect policies? How can strategic public management improve the relevance, coherence, cooperation and coordination of policy and administration? These questions, at once theoretical and very practical, have been discussed by implementation studies (Pressman and Wildavsky, 1973) and, later, by more managerial research about policy execution (Schedler and Proeller, 2010). Most management and implementation studies, however valuable, tend to repeat a top-down, instrumental, problem-solving pattern. We put these in perspective by proposing an alternative that emphasizes exploration and creates structured bottom-up participation opportunities.