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The Definition of
Project management
The application of knowledge, skills, tools
and techniques to a broad range of activities to meet the requirements
of the particular project. For example, the use of methodologies,
project life cycles and plans, and tools like Gantt and Pert charts.
Project management knowledge and practices are best described in
terms of their component processes. These processes can be placed into
five process groups (initiating, planning, executing, controlling and
closing) and nine knowledge areas (project integration management,
project scope management, project time management, project cost
management, project quality management, project human resource
management, project communications management, project risk management
and project procurement management).
The Term Project Management
The Latin word projectum means, "to
throw something forwards." The word "project" originally meant
"something that comes before anything else is done". When the word was
initially adopted, it referred to a plan of something, not to the act of
actually carrying this plan out. Something performed in accordance with
a project was called an object. This use of "project" changed in the
1950s when several techniques for project management were introduced:
with this advent the word slightly changed meaning to cover both
projects and objects. However in certain projects there may still exist
so called objects and object leaders, reflecting the older use of the
words.
Frederick Taylor (1856–1915), also known
as the father of "scientific management", applied scientific reasoning
to the industrial system in how labor can be studied and analyzed. By
breaking down the work into its elementary parts he could improve
productivity. This was applied across all tasks found in a factory
system and industrial mills. Prior to this productivity improvements
could be made only through longer hours from the work force. The
approach relied upon time and motion studies to find the best method
shorn of unrequired extra movements.
The Gilbreths (Frank
1868-1924 and Lillian) worked with standardization and method studies.
In one example, bricklayers were observed and it was determined that no
two used the same technique or set of motions . With his wife they
studied the work habits of various manufacturing and clerical jobs to
determine how out could be increased.
Henry Gantt
(1861–1919), was an associate of Taylor, and studied in great detail the
order of operations in work. He studied management techniques
specifically in the field of the construction of naval ship in the First
World War. As a result, he created the Gantt chart, a system of
outlining the sequence and duration of all tasks in a process, reflected
by task bars and milestone markers. For the past hundred years Gantt
charts have remained little unchanged and are a proven analytical tool
for managers. The advent of project management software has increased
the popularity and usefulness of Gantt charts by adding links to task
bars providing more precise dependencies between tasks.
Gantt charts were used on major infrastructure projects including the
Hoover Dam (1931-36) and Interstate highway system (1956).
Charles Bedaux (1886-1945) was a contributor to the field of
scientific management and worked out ideas about measuring human energy
which led to startling improvements in productivity. These were based on
the concept of rating assessment in timing work.
Bernard Schriever (1910-2005), the architect of the US Air Force's
ballistic missile and military space program coins the term Project
Management in 1954, later known as the “Father of Modern Project
Management.”
Complex network diagrams called PERT (Program
Evaluation and Review Technique) charts were invented as part of the
Polaris missile submarine program in 1955. Booz-Allen Hamilton worked
with the U.S. Navy to create these charts and schedules.
The Critical Path
Method (CPM) was developed by the DuPont corporation in 1957, to deal
with a variety of tasks and numerous interactions at many points in
time.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SCHEDULING
by Patrick Weaver
The
science of ‘scheduling’ as defined by Critical Path Analysis (CPA) will
celebrate its 50th Anniversary on the 7th May 2007. In 1956/57 Kelly and
Walker started developing the algorithms that became the
‘Activity-on-Arrow’ or ADM methodology for DuPont. The program they
developed was trialed on plant shutdowns in 1957 and the first paper on
critical path scheduling was published in 1958. The critical meeting to
approve this project was held on the 7th May 1957 in Newark Delaware
where DuPont and Remington Rand jointly committed US$226,400 to fund the
development. This date seems the most appropriate ‘start point’ for a
development process that borrowed from previous research and
developments and continues to this day.
The PERT
system was developed by the US military in parallel with CPM, but lagged
CPM by 6 to 12 months (although the term ‘critical path’ was invented by
the PERT team). Later the Precedence (PDM) methodology was published by
Dr. John Fondahl in 1961 as a ‘non-computer’ alternative to CPM.
Arguably, the evolution of modern project management is a direct
consequence of the need to make effective use of the data generated by
the schedulers in an attempt to manage and control the critical path.
Source: www.pmforum.org
Kaizen (Ky' zen) a Japanese business philosophy is brought
to the Western corporate world by Masaaki Imai In his book "Kaizen: the
Key to Japan's Competitive Success" (1986, McGraw-Hill). Imai defines it
as: "a means of continuing improvement in personal life, home life,
social life, and working life." The history of Kaizen starts in Japan in
the 1950's when Toyota first implements quality circles into the
production process. Kaizen is influenced by Armand Feigenbaum's book
"Total Quality Control" in 1951, which details Total Quality practices.
Also the influence of W. Edwards Deming ("Elementary Principles of the
Statistical Control of Quality" in 1951), JM Juran ("Quality Control
Handbook" in 1951), and Kauru Ishikawa all these reshape Japanese
business.
The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) of
Carnegie-Mellon University develops the influential “Capability Maturity
Model” for software between 1986 and 1993.
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Modern Project Management
The form in use today across many fields and disciplines in
the business world emerged in the 20th century specifically after the Second
World War. The period can be looked as a catalyst in the evolution of project
management with the need to organize vast quantities of resources and personnel
to achieve critical objectives in specific timeframes. This required a comprehensive
approach, beyond following intuitive processes (see
Churchill's Adaptive Enterprise). The business world began
to adopt project management as the benefits of organizing around projects
became apparent.
Project
Management in the Past (pre 19th Century)
Renaissance Engineers or Pseudo
Project Manager
"The forerunners of engineers,
practical artists and craftsmen, proceeded mainly by trial and
error. Yet tinkering combined with imagination produced many
marvelous devices. Many ancient monuments cannot fail to incite
admiration. The admiration is embodied in the name “engineer”
itself. It originated in the eleventh century from the Latin
ingeniator, meaning one with ingenium, the ingenious one. The name,
used for builders of ingenious fortifications or makers of ingenious
devices, was closely related to the notion of ingenuity, which was
captured in the old meaning of “engine” until the word was taken
over by steam engines and its like. Leonardo da Vinci bore the
official title of Ingegnere Generale. His notebooks reveal that some
Renaissance engineers began to ask systematically what works and
why."
Source: History of engineering;
http://www.creatingtechnology.org/history.htm#1
"The first engineers were
irrigators, architects, and military engineers. The same man was
usually expected to be an expert at all three kinds of work. This
was still the case thousands of years later, in the Renaissance,
when Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Dürer were not only all-around
engineers but outstanding artists as well. Specialization within the
engineering profession has developed only in the last two or three
centuries."
Source: Paul Allen history of PM;
http://members.aol.com/AllenWeb/history.html
The first project managers were technicians
or engineers, generally multi-skilled generalists that could deal
with many situations.
Beyond construction,
typically in civil engineering, other types of projects
drove the great technological advances and scientific discoveries. Also
the great journeys across oceans and the world, or explorations to the far
corners of the earth were all different forms of a project.
The 16th Century and Modern Age
of Engineering
This marked the beginning of modern
engineering with the formation of professional societies, printing
of treatise on engineering subjects in quantity, engineering
schools, and specialization within the profession, and engineers
began to take advantage of the brilliant scientific discoveries of
the time.
The Scientific Revolution
"The first phase of modern engineering emerged
in the Scientific Revolution. Galileo’s Two New Sciences, which
seeks systematic explanations and adopts a scientific approach to
practical problems, is a landmark regarded by many engineer
historians as the beginning of structural analysis, the mathematical
representation and design of building structures."
Source: History of engineering; http://www.creatingtechnology.org/history.htm#1
The 18th and 19th Century
and the Industrial Revolutions
The end of the 18th and 19th century witnessed colossal changes
in the Western World with industrial
revolutions and
with this the birth of management principles in the business
world, to become the backbone of project management.
The First Industrial Revolution
and Steam
The monumentous changes brought about by the first industrial
revolution and its repercussions required new
thinking and solutions
at a more macro level. For example,
this new industrialized world with mass production
required a system to supply
large quantities of raw materials, resources, man power, equipment and
organization . It needed
more sophisticated systems of transportation, storage, manufacturing,
assembly, and distribution. Further a rapidly expanding
workforce of thousands needed to be
taken care of in terms of housing, health,
welfare, and education. All this brought in new institutions,
establishments, and organizations. It also brought a more disciplined
approach to business and management based on scientific
research and principles.
The Factory System
This was a system of manufacturing introduced by the Industrial
Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. Goods were
made by workers gathered in a factory rather than handcrafted
by craftsmen in their homes. The principals of the system
lay in breaking the overall process into smaller activities and
creating cells were tasks would be repeated. The first factories
manufactured products like pulleys for sailing ship rigs, and firearms
like muskets, and later textiles in mills.
Transportation Networks
The industrial revolution required an advanced system
for transportation and distribution. This was first brought
about by canal networks, 18th century, and then the railway systems, 19th
century . As trade expanded globally so did
the the development of ocean going steamship liners. From
all this evolved some of the largest projects
ever sponsored by
governments namely, the transcontinental railroads of the US (1869), Canada (1870),
Russia (1917), and the super-liner
and dreadnought races of
the early 20th century .
The 20th Century
The 20th century witnessed colossal changes across the world
with two industrial revolutions which required a far
more structured approach to business and management as
the scale of objectives changed.
The Second Industrial Revolution
Electricity and Combustion Engines
The very late part of the 19th century saw the second industrial
revolution emerge with a host of new emerging
technologies. The second, dominated by electricity
and chemicals, lasted 1890-1930, and brought telephones,
electrical devices, the internal combustion engine, and
transportation by land (automobiles), sea (ocean going liners), and
air. Epitomized by
mass production
of
consumer goods
and the mechanization of manufacture it served the
needs of an increasing population.
 
The First World War
The world war mobilized continents with huge armies and resources
into a global conflict which proved to be a prolonged
war of stalemate. It manifested the industrialization
of war and leveraged mass production, mass transportation,
and mobilization of vast armies. By 1918 the logistical
operation supplying the British Expeditionary Force was the largest
the world had ever seen. This further accelerated work in planning
and supplying.
Between the World Wars and
Business Management
Between the two wars new disciplines were added to the study
of business management notably, human relationships
(between employer and employee), an evolution in marketing
(and its importance) and industrial human
relations school of management arose to deal with the practical problems caused by Taylorism and the grindless
repetition of tasks.
Project engineers developed or
adapted coordination techniques that gave the managers control over
the progress of the project but did not attempt to dictate to
specialized experts how to do their work. MIT professor Erwin Schell
articulated this philosophy, telling students in the 1930's, "The
work of the engineers in most departments is not sufficiently
routinized to allow process control. The most satisfactory policy
appears to be that of employing competent men and then holding them
[responsible] for results in terms of the erection schedule, leaving
ways and means largely to their individual discretion."
The Third Industrial Revolution
and Computers
The third, from 1930 to today, has been dominated by computers
both electro-mechanical and electronic, information,
and the Internet. It
also saw the institutionalization of management practices
into business.
The Second World War
The world war reflected the manifestation of the
second industrial revolution through the mechanization of
warfare or "Blitzkrieg." It was dependent on advanced machinery
swiftly moving huge armies and resources, whether by land
or air. The shrinking war-time labor
supply demanded new organizational structures.
The conflict also brought massive projects
to the fore front. For example, the
adaptive system created
for the Battle of Britain (1940), the Collossus computers at Bletchley Park (1943) , the
Normandy Invasion (1944), the Manhatten project (1945).
The latter was the first evidence
of modern project management, displaying principles of organization
and planning. It separated the project manager
(General Groves) and
the technical leader (Robert Oppenheimer).
The Cold War
This war reflected the manifestation of the third industrial
revolution and the advances made in the use of
information/intelligence in the
second world war . It also saw the development
of a large number of planes and
rockets projects by the US Air Force and Navy
based on experiments and prototypes in the second world war
.
The 1950s
The development of both CPM
and PERT gave project managers much greater control
over massively engineered and extremely complex projects.
This was vital for the military weapon systems evolving and
the space race which began in 1957, one of the most complex and
difficult projects undertaken by humans.
The 1960s
US Defense introduced some core project tools like earned
value, and work breakdown structures. An intellectual interest
in project management emerges. The construction industry
begins to widely use modern project management tools and
methods.
The 1970s
Project-based firms use project management as a permanent
function. The Project Management Institute (PMI) and
the Internet (IPMA) are established to focus on project
techniques. Project Management
starts to incorporate Time, Cost and Quality
(TCQ), and triangulating
the relationship between these with regard to the expected
value to be received from the project output. There is also a focus
on the growth in the importance of
external factors.
The 1980s
The discipline matures and broadens to include risk
management, Total Quality Management (TQM), partnering, and defining
project success. The PM book of knowledge PMBOK is published
and business begins to adopt the approach of “Management
by Projects.”
The 1990s
The discipline pays more attention
to business benefits (business case) of projects, not
just production of outputs, standardization
of project methodologies, and the introduction of certification.
It also focuses on enterprise project management,
the need to manage networks of projects,
and improving project management in organizations through a maturity
model.
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