The history of modern project management

As the third installment of a series of articles detailing the early years of modern project management, this article features one accomplished practitioner and researcher discussing his beginnings in the field. The article begins by describing a computerized network plan the author adopted--and used from what he knew of PERT--to realize the POLARIS submarine and missile systems project, an effort he managed while he was working at Aerojet, an effort that led to the author's involvement in creating the first computer program for processing PERT networks: The Hughes-PERT SYSTEM for Hughes Aircraft, a system that had a direct influence on the incorporation of the work breakdown structure into the 1962 United States Department of Defense (DOD) publication DOD/NASA PERT Cost Guide. The article also explains the field's initial negative reaction to PERT/Cost and details three reasons that most project professionals--except those working in construction--resisted using PERT/CPM/PDM.