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History of Project Management

Abstract

Project management is the presentation of information, services, measures, and approaches applied to project actions so that the organization can fulfill essentials of the project. The history of the project management studies incorporates detailed growth in profession year by year. Project management methods are being used for decades while the documentation and the standardization took place later on for the customized projects. The history of project management methods’ has substantial value for choosing the right method on the right project.

Overview 

Project

To understand the project management, “Project” needs to be clarified for better clearance on the project management.

A project can be short-term work started to create and develop a unique product, service, or outcome. Every project defines the work has a beginning and the end both. The beginning is where the idea is been generated and the end would be the result, is the objective of the idea is achieved and the existence of the project with the accomplishment or termination.

Project Management

Project management is the keyword implemented for the knowledge of implementation way for the success of any teamwork. Few studies says that this word “Project Management” is being used since the 19th century (Chofreh, et. al., 2016). Project management is an idea used by engineers and architects for long, it may be before civilization. Nowadays, Project management is an essential chunk of any organization to walk on the success path. It has immense specifications and details for the operation and fruitful achievement.

The old pyramids, The Great Wall of China, and Coliseum are the true models of project management. These unique structures are not been in existence without the people or team in charge of managing them. A study for the completion of vast projects showcases that the work had been assigned to different assemblies with different sorts to accomplish the task and achieve desired results. However, the outcome was not that strong in the imagination. 

Antiquity 

There is no perfect or solid evidence or documentation for the start of the project management. After researches and studies, the history of the Project management starts as follows:

  • 2570 BC: The Great Pyramid of Giza’s structure

Emperors structured the pyramids and in present scenario the architects, studying and researching how they have managed to start the amazing monument, executed the idea and then attained the end of the project. This shows the project management skills in an earlier era (Chofreh, et. al., 2016).

  • 208 BC: The Great Wall of China’s creation

Alternative wonder of the world, the planning, and execution of the project were organized by king by diving the team into three groups and thousands of people were ordered to help the construction team to comprehensive this huge project. 

  • 1917: The Gantt chart Established by Henry Gantt (1861-1919)

Founder and inventor of The Gantt chart, Henry Gantt created the scheduling diagrams on his name. The innovative idea is still considered as a vital part of the toolkit of project managers’

  • 1956: The American Association of Cost Engineers (now AACE International) Formed

AACE was founded by experts of earlier times, project management and connected domains of designing and scheduling, estimation of cost, cost, and schedule control (Too & Weaver, 2014).

  • 1957: The Critical Path Method (CPM) Developed by the Dupont Corporation

CPM formed by Dupont for the management of huge power plant maintenance. An approach to analyze timeframe of any project that is scheduling the task on plants along with the shutting downtime of plants while the project running.

  • 1958: The Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) Developed for the U.S. Navy’s Polaris Project

PERT was designed special projects office which was element of department of defence of US Navy. It was known to be element of the Polaris mobile submarine-propelled ballistic missile project in times of the cold war (Silvius & Schipper, 2014). 

  • 1962: United States Department of Defence Mandate the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Approach

WBS created by the division of Defence as part of the Polaris mobile submarine-propelled ballistic missile project. It is an extensive, graded hierarchy organization of deliverables and work that must be executed to undertake a project

1965: The International Project Management Association (IPMA) Founded

First of the project management organisation is known to be IPMA. It was formed as a meeting for the link of project manager’s and sharing data (Pinto, 2014). Organisation is known to be federation of overall fifty domestic and globally based project management organisations and also it is authorised in Switzerland. 

1969: Project Management Institute (PMI) Launched to Promote the Project Management Profession

PMI was known to be originated by five individuals as a non-for-profit entity and is dedicated to spread the practice, science, and project management as a profession. An article created by The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for Merger for PMI in 1969, which was the authorised initiation. 

1975: PROMPTII Method Created by Simpact Systems Limited

Structure of PROMPTII was basically for the computer projects as the projects were delayed over time investigated for execution and real budgets as mentioned in practicability studies (Silvius & Schipper, 2014).

  • 1975: The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering by Fred Brooks

The book “software engineering and project management” by Fred Brooks, showcases fact “Addition of manpower to a late software project designs it afterwards.” This ideology is called law of Brooks’s. 

1984: Theory of Constraints (TOC) Presented by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt in his Novel “The Goal”

A clear sign on the title, TOC is a management viewpoint that supports any organization to successfully achieve the goals (Pinto, 2014). The TOC procedure searches to identify the limitation or obstacles in the projects and streamline the remaining of the organization’s tasks with application of Five Focusing Steps

1986 Scrum Named as a Project Management Style

Scrum is known to be an agile software development technique oriented on numerous small groups functioning in an exhaustive and mutually dependent form. ‘The New Product Development Game’ (Harvard Business Review, 1986) Takeuchi and Nonaka gave name as Scrum as a project management technique in their paper. 

1987: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) Published by PMI

PMBOK is a guide for the standard tools and proper documentation of information and facts of project management practices. This guide is an essential tool in the project management profession since then it has become the globally used standard in the industry (Fleming & Koppelman, 2016, December). 

1989: Earned Value Management (EVM) Leadership Elevated to Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition

EVM framework was used in factory management systems since the early 19th century. EVM leadership was raised to the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, thereby making EVM an primary aspect of programme management. 

1989: PRINCE Method Developed From PROMPTII

PRINCE method was issued by the UK Government agency CCTA, PRojects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE). It is known to be popular as the benchmark for all government system projects, a unique real approach, basically the ideology of ‘assuring development’ from three identical but connected views. Studies say, the measure is ungainly, too stiff, and applies only for the large projects. 

  • 1994: CHAOS Report First Published

The Standish Group formed for the collection of the information and details on any of the project failures in the IT industry (Panou, Mar 2018). The CHAOS report is the regular issue regarding IT project failure, this leads learning from the failure of others and discovering more methods to enhance on accomplishment rate and raising the worth of IT investments. 

  • 1996: PRINCE2 Published by CCTA

A second edition on PRINCE method, more standardized and applicable to any project announced by the primary computer and Telecommunications Agency), a UK government support agency. Initially established for Information Systems, and Information Technology projects to decrease overruns related to cost and time. 

  • 1997: Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) Designed

CCPM was designed and introduced by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in 1997. The management of resources, keeping them in the proper level. This method is learning, keeping the resources flexible in start times and swapping among tasks when necessary to keep the project on a stable schedule. The method seems critical. However, it promotes the chain level project management system (Fleming & Koppelman, 2016, December).

  • 1998: PMBOK Becomes a Standard

PMBOK was announced as standard for project management by The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1997 and then afterwards it was recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 

  • 2001: The Agile Manifesto Written

Philosophy for Agile Software Development has known to be issued by developers of 17 software about the lightweight software development methods in their meet at The Lodge, Snowbird, Utah resort in Feb’2001. 

  • 2006: “Total Cost Management Framework” Release by AACE International

AACE introduced the idea for the entire cost management and issued the complete staging of the procedure in “Complete Cost management arrangement”. It has been introduced as a first integrated process, a method for application of the abilities and knowledge of cost engineering. Cost management is a significant slide in the project management system.

  • 2008: 4th Edition of PMBOK Guide Released

The fourth updated version of PMBOK guide released with the PMI custom of superiority in project management with a standard that is more improved than earlier and convenient to comprehend and use with efficient reliability and enhanced organization (Ahola, et. al., 2014).

  • 2009: Major PRINCE2 Revision by Office of Government Commerce (OGC)

A prime amendment in PRINCE2 made the approach easier to customize as per the user requirement. The updated version is classified into 7 principles, supports the success of the project.  

  • 2012: ISO 21500:2012 Standard for Project Management Released

After making research and investigation by analysts in more than fifty economies, book of the global entity for Standardization published “ISO 21500:2012, Guidance on Project Management” in September 2012. 

  • 2012: 5th Edition of PMBOK Guide Released

The next fifth edition of the book provides the enhanced version with strategies, regulations, and features for project management considered as noble practice or case studies in the profession of project management.

Importance of project management in modern world organizations

Project management is playing an important and crucial part for every size of organization for the management of day to day operations without any mess. It is now necessary for a company to hire a dedicated project manager to organize projects from beginning to achievement.  Appropriate project management techniques are helpful for any organization to work on big projects, dealing budget and earning tag, reputation, success, and money (Ahola, et. al., 2014).

Few points are mentioned as below for the better understanding of the benefits using the Project management in the organization:

  1. Estimation: Project management promotes the core interest in any project with the estimate of the task involved like, time duration estimate, cost estimate, people required for the project estimate, a tool essential, and method or technology to be considered for the project.
  2. Planning:  The Planning project is the heart of project management life rotation. The project plans are documented & the schedule is mentioned, which will result in delivering the preferred results. 
  3. Exclusive Endeavour: The project management assists the organization to the successful achievement of the task for the unique product or service. The exclusiveness is never a temporary phase for the product managers, it is under the core job preferences. 
  4. Timeline Review: forming a project, will never be without a specific timeline. The project management methods are used for the calculation of the timeline of the project. 
  5. Budgeting: The project budget has significant importance in the project management of the task as any project can’t be even in the execution phase with the cost estimation or a budget approved (Joslin & Müller, 2015).
  6. Changes & Excellence: Both terms are significant for any organization as project management plays a key role to accomplish the changes as per the demand and skill developed manger acquired the methods to control the quality at the same time, to endure the happy customers. 
  7. Opportunity: The wider projects may involve more planning, careful coordination, huge finances, long term project duration but it will ensure the futuristic and the extended tenure for the company’s success pathway. 

Conclusion

Project management is a practice or skill that can be developed for the achievement of any task with proper planning, time duration calculation, budget estimation, upcoming changes, maintaining the quality with the opportunity and challenges. This required the optimum utilization of resources and applying inputs for the anticipated and unique outcome. Good project management guarantees that the goals of projects lined up suitably with the planned goals of the organization. The basis on the referral history of project management growth and enactment of methods in several years, project management is the core and essential part of any organization, group, or anyone performing task whether it’s a small or huge project. These methods show the clear path for the planning, execution and conclusion with the mandate consequences. The history of the project management exhibit the ideas, concepts and the skills ascended by researchers and learners for the improved accomplishment of the project management profession. 

References
  • Seymour, Tom & Hussein, Sara Minot State University, USA, The History of Project Management, 2014 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298341808_The_History_Of_Project_Management
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  • Panou, George (Mar 2018 ) History and Processes of Project Management https://medium.com/@gpanou/history-and-processes-of-project-management-1ae31fa450eb
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