This document provides a brief outline of the historical development of management thoughts. It discusses two ways of defining "management thought" - as coherent theories or systems of management, or more broadly as thinking and ideas about the meaning, purpose, and tasks of management. The main problem is defining where to start, as management ideas have existed since ancient times but the most influential work was Frederick Taylor's "The Principles of Scientific Management" in 1911. To understand why Scientific Management emerged, one needs to look back further to the late 19th century and the first calls for improved management methods stemming from the Industrial Revolution. The document questions where exactly to start - with thinkers like Charles Babbage, Robert Owen, Adam Smith, or even further back