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| The history of project management: A search for world best practicesAP Van der Merwe Association For Project Management, Roodepoort, South Africa In Proceedings Volume 1: 14th World Congress on Project Management, Slovenia, Ljubljana, June 1998, pp 260 - 270
Abstract This paper takes an oblique perspective on the development of project management in America, Europe and the influence this has had on South African project management. The paper tries to find those aspects of project management that seem to work, irrespective of orientation, to begin to define world best practises. What is found is that the successful practitioners are not perpetuating the theory and to a large extent that clinical application of the theory leads to project failure. The task is up to theorists to get practitioners involved in writing the process theory of project management so that positive incremental improvement can take place. Finally, the history of project management depends on your perspective, but ultimately one must decide:
1. Introduction "It does not take great men to do things, but it is doing things that make men great" Arnold Glasow. The same can be said of project managers. One can read all the theory, attend all the lectures, talk to all the experts and never become a project manager. One becomes a project manager by "doing things". It’s like becoming a Chef. You do not become a Chef by reading recipes but by preparing a meal. Only when the meal has been tasted and declared exceptional is one considered a Great Chef. So too must the output of the project manager’s endeavours be considered exceptional before he can become a Great Project Manager. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1) considers the word Project as follows:
It is clear from this that the word project as a noun is the one we refer to in "project management" context. I propose that it is also a verb. It exists only as "things being done". But herein lies industry’s greatest dilemma. Project managers who are doing things (estimated one million in Britain alone) do not belong to institutes, speak at seminars or produce written material. Membership of the Association for Project Management in the UK has just passed the 5000 mark. Of these only 10% are active in perpetuating knowledge and then become less "doing" and more "talking". Project management theory is therefore based on only the partial experiences of 0.05% of the people active in the industry. In America the Project Management Institute has about 25 000 members but the same ratio holds true. A quick scan of the literature available there, reveals that it is produced almost exclusively by faculty members. Even more surprising is that none of the authors represents a faculty of project management. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not proposing that theorists are poor project managers. But how many meals do critics cook themselves? It is a position I do battle with myself. The more I lecture the less time I have to be actively involved in managing projects. My own experience of managing projects for 20 years before being introduced to the theory has raised a serious question about the process of project management and the over abundance of tools and techniques. A situation I hope this paper will begin to remedy. Let us now consider three perspectives, American, European and African to see what we can make of this PROJECT MANAGEMENT.
2. The American point of view 2.1. Introduction Generally, when asked, those in the know will say that modern project management had its origin in 1958 when a Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) was first developed by Booz, Allen and Hamelton and used to find the shortest time possible in which to develop and produce an operational Polaris missile for the Special Projects Office of the United States Navy. Kerzner (2) PERT was actually an adaptation of an earlier Precedence Evaluation Technique derived from cause and effect modelling which was used by the Manhattan Project to produce the first atomic bomb.
Figure 1
"Fundamental to PERT is the concept of an ‘event’ or the reaching of a certain stage of completion of a project. Also basic is the expected time required to complete activities leading up to that event". West (3)
Figure 2 At the same time chemical and explosives giant, Du Pont developed a similar technique called the Critical Path Method (CPM). 2.2. Application Broadly speaking when asked to manage a project one would begin by drawing up a list of the tasks that need to be completed in rough order. Next, the duration of the task is considered against the resources required, which impacts on the cost to complete the task. These tasks are now placed in sequence using a pert diagram and establishes relationships between the tasks. (Determining preceding and succeeding tasks.) Working back from the target end date to the start activity one finds the latest date for each task to begin and finish. Taking the earliest possible starting date for the project one now adds the task duration’s to the start date to find the earliest possible start and finish date for each task. The difference between the early date and the late date is called the float and where this is zero the task is said to be critical. All critical tasks make up the critical path hence Critical Path Method (CPM). The use of CPM concentrates management attention on those activities which make-up the critical path as these activities would be "critical" to the overall duration of the project. Management attention is therefore focused on the task and the means of achieving that task within cost, time and quality constraints. Both PERT and CPM had at their core tools and techniques to reduce the time required without impacting on cost and quality constraints to produce the product of the project, by creating a network of activities leading to an event. Use of PERT and CPM became popular when the Department of Defence and Du Pont requested contractors to use these techniques to comply with standard company control procedures. From this one can deduce that these techniques were used to control many contractors working on one project. This aspect then forms the basis of the American point of view in that project management is the use of tools and techniques to control many tasks performed by many organisations working on one project. This view is upheld by the Project Management Institute in Boston USA who oversee all things pertaining to project management in America and who exercise some influence over the various institutes in the rest of the world.
2.3. Industry The Project Management Institute has produced "A guide to the project management body of knowledge" (PMBOK) which states that "Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholders’ expectations from a project". PMBOK (4) The PMBOK shows a lack of understanding in the use of business processes, project life cycles, work break down structures and the individuals who are to perform the activities. It dictates nine areas of knowledge which fall primarily in the "design stage" of the life cycle which is seen to be synonymous with the "implementation stage" But in their defence, PMI do state that all of project management knowledge could never be contained in a single volume. PMI publish a magazine PM Network (5) and a journal Project Management Journal (6) in which practitioners and professionals can publish their findings. Articles published in PM Network display a keen insight into the problems affecting project managers today and I find it an invaluable source of information reflecting the actual situation within the project management industry right now. The Project Management Journal is aimed at the more academic (theoretical) side of the industry and often states more as to what the problem is rather than the solution. PMI also offers Project Management Professional (PMP) status to members who qualify according to a points scheme but who lose PMP status if annual fees are not paid. PMI is one of the more active institutes internationally and influences theory and practice to a great extent. They offer many benefits to their members and play a leading role in the project management industry the world over. 2.4. Summary To summarise, the American perspective concentrates on the task, tools and techniques to deliver the product of the project, and co-ordination / control of many tasks performed by many organisations working on a single project.
3. The European point of view 3.1. Introduction The first point that struck me in Europe was that they referred to management by projects rather than to project management. The second point or rather the lack of it was that almost no reference was made to tools and techniques. Project management as practised in Britain and by the European Union is explained as a "systems approach" (synonymous with process) Cleland (7) to problem solving and as such has its origin in nature where the first ‘systems’ are found, dating back to the origin of life. Project management is not seen to be "construction or production" but is simply seen as "anything with a beginning and a end". Barnes (8) Use of the "life cycle" approach discovered by Cleland and King in 1975 abounds. (7) I say discovered because in their original work Cleland and King acknowledge the systems approach as found in nature. In my opinion life cycles can be seen as the first natural law of project management, to use a scientific sort of expression. The second is the application of processes or systems. The European approach is based on three fundamental principles: the use of life cycles, work breakdown structures and responsibility charts. 
Life cycles can contain from three to seventeen stages but generally it is accepted that a basic four stage model is use to begin with. My research has revealed risk to be the major contributing factor to the use of more than four stages. Van Der Merwe (9)
3.2. Application When asked to assist a technical expert (Champion) with the management of a project, the Project Process Manager (Project Manager) will draw Fig. 3 and try to determine the end condition of the project i.e. "How will we know that the project is finished". Next, the beneficial change is discussed to find what improvement the project is to bring about. 
A working title is derived from the end condition and beneficial change. Next, a strategic level work breakdown structure of about 10 items per stage is entered. (Fig. 4) The work of the feasibility stage is now performed by the champion and project manager to determine whether the project is feasible or not , what the expected resource constraints (number of people, expected labour man hours, total duration, equipment cost, cash required if any etc.) for the project looks like at a 50% accuracy level and then draw up a proposal document to communicate the project plan with potential sponsors and stakeholders. 
Once sponsors and stakeholders have accepted the total resource cost, the project is allowed to proceed to the design stage. A project start-up meeting is called where earlier decisions are ratified by the people who will now undertake to do the work. Operational level work breakdown structures are determined by the project team. Responsibility charts reflect who has taken responsibility for which task, how much time is to be spent working on the task and when will it be finished. This is done in a group environment where all interested parties are present. People, groups, departments, etc. who accept responsibility are now part of the project team. (Fig. 5) Work progresses to the end of design where total resource costs for the project now 75%+ accurate, are presented to the sponsors and stakeholders for approval, in order to place contracts and proceed with implementation / construction of the project. Once the end condition has been met the project now proceeds to the end stage where finally the project team is disbanded. The project is managed jointly by the Champion (who is responsible for the technical content) and the Project Manager (who is responsible for the people) In more recent years use has been made of project-based management in which Turner (10) describes each department of an organisation is seen as a project which is to achieve a certain goal. These goals make up the strategic objectives of the organisation as a whole. Successful projects cause the organisation to move from one objective to the next while unsuccessful projects cause the organisation to fail to reach their objectives. Management attention is placed on the management of the people who perform the tasks, and not on how the task is performed. This view is also portrayed by the Association for Project Management (APM) in Britain, BOK (11) and by the International Project Management Institute (IPMA) in Zurich. British Standard 6079 : 1996 (12) defines project management as "The planning, monitoring and control of all aspects of a project and the motivation of all those involved in it to achieve the project objectives on time and to the specified cost, quality and performance". It also states "Project management could be said to be as old as humankind, since by definition, any management activity that introduces a new objective or causes change and has a definite start and finish time, is a project". (12) Note the human / management of people slant given by these definitions.
3.3. Industry The Association for Project Management (APM) produces a Body of Knowledge (APMBOK) advocating 40 areas of knowledge TO MANAGE PEOPLE WHO ARE MANAGING THE WORK. Project, the magazine of APM, (13) publishes articles produced by practitioners, and abounds with discussions on management processes, team work, motivation, management of people etc. Central to all is project management as a HUMAN endeavour and a UNIVERSAL process. This is in stark contrast to the management of the activity, task or event portrayed in American literature. IPMA, the largest project management association (it affiliates all the institutes in Europe i.e.: France, India, Russia, Germany, Switzerland and Britain etc.) produces the International Journal of Project Management, (14) widely regarded as THE academic authority on project management, and affiliates all APM’s. We also find that Europe is more academically organised, as several universities have programs and degrees dedicated to project management, and differentiation is made between degrees with project management content, and degrees in project management. APM has achieved chartered status and can now award degrees according to British educational standards, and Certified Project Manager status is available (similar to Certified Engineer) to members who qualify. This puts the formal tertiary education of project managers, as well as their professional status, at the highest internationally acceptable level. National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) are incorporated, accomplishing the accreditation of training providers, presenters and training material. APM and IPMA offer a range of benefits to members and are at the forefront in establishing the Global Forum - an endeavour to bring about the global status of project management.
3.4. Summary The European point of view on project management is that an organisation is a project made up of many small, projects and the cumulative success of these projects determines the success of the organisation. Key to this concept is the management of people who perform work on many simultaneously occurring projects. It is here that multi-project management as a business process is taught on a formal tertiary accredited basis.
4. The African point of view 4.1. Introduction Africa is gaining acceptance as the origin of man. It is here that we supposedly first swung down from the trees and walked upright across the mud flats of central Africa. Recent archaeological discoveries at an unfinished pyramid in Egypt (accepted to be the one of the oldest structures in the world) found that slaves were not used to build them as is popularly believed. A construction camp was unearthed containing architects’ drawings and a nearby cemetery contained skeletons with injuries common to tradesmen. Bauval (15) From these findings one can speculate that if architects’ drawings and tradesmen existed, surely a plan for construction also existed? If so then one can conclude that some form of project management must have been employed. More recently, in the ancient kingdom of Kush, near to where the ARK of the Covenant is believed to be kept, Hancock (16) finds pyramids older than those in Egypt, raising speculation that the building industry started in central Africa and was emulated by the Egyptians from where it spread to the rest of the world. This may be the reason for project management in Africa being seen to be the domain of Engineers. Recent discussions with a businessman in Durban led to his exclamation: "How can civil engineering techniques help a business.!?"
It is generally accepted that project management is the manipulation of steel and concrete in the construction and production industries. The words "project management" conjure up images of a construction site where people are pushing wheelbarrows, carrying planks and mixing concrete. Imagination is void of management by projects, implementation of strategy, directing elements of business and, heaven forbid, the management of people.
4.2. Application Project management in South Africa follows that of the American Perspective discussed earlier. While successful in various forms of Engineering, Production Management and Operational Management or wherever the scheduled sequencing of tasks is required, it is less successful in the Information Industry and in the application to General Management where change is to be brought about within an organisation. Here it is the European Perspective which points the pathway to success. Blindly sticking to the use of tools and techniques has led to spectacular failure of projects and the implementation of management by projects in several unrelated industries. None more so than at the Saldana Steel Project where the workers on the project burnt down offices and plant in frustration with management. Lack of human understanding and management of people issues it seems will lead to failure on any project. A common fallacy exists, that project management forms part of general management and is made up of tools and techniques. It means that exposure to the European Perspective has been very limited. Funding of projects in Africa by World Bank, European Union and International Monetary Fund has meant that project plans must reflect knowledge of the European Perspective in project management.
4.3. Industry My involvement with PMI South African Chapter made me realise that while the majority of members are from the Information Technology sector, the institute was firmly entrenched in engineering. Sadly the chapter decided to disband from PMI in America and now exists as the South African Institute of Project Management. Being independent means that you can accredit yourself and this is largely held to be the reason for the split. Some private initiative has been displayed in the formation of the Association of Project and Change Management (APCM) and rumour has it that APM (UK) is to open a branch here. An independent magazine, Project Pro, (17) servicing several related industries, does a sterling job of providing project management practitioners with a voice, and is the only publicly available magazine on project management in South Africa. No formal tertiary education or accreditation exists in South Africa but several universities offer project management as a subject as part of other degrees, notably engineering as mentioned above. This does not detract from the fact that South African projects have been voted "Best Project In The World" by PMI several times in recent years. This underscores my opinion that the best project management practitioners are not active in perpetuating theory. Hopefully this situation will soon change.
4.4. Summary The African point of view on project management is that it falls within the domain of engineering and is largely influenced by the American perspective. Knowledge of the European perspective is lacking but demand by the European Union that project management training precede donor funding of projects will undoubtedly change all of this.
5. Worlds Best Practices In browsing through most of the literature available on project management since 1981, being involved with several international institutes, and talking to most of the Big Guns, I still believe that only the surface is being scratched with regard to available knowledge. While researching Multi-project management I found almost no knowledge available in literature. Even the experts were silent. But I realised that project managers were being successful - they were just not talking about it. So I hit the road in search of them. After several interviews I found a pattern emerging in the activities of the more successful project managers. What I found was that:
Realising that current textbooks were around 10 years old, journal articles took two years to publish and that only magazine articles displayed current practice, I reviewed these for traces that would concur with my findings. Imagine my surprise - they were there. In bits and pieces, un-collated but most of them were there. 6. Conclusion So what can we make from all of this? One thing is definite: the people who are doing the job mostly know how to get it done. They just don’t talk about it. The task is now up to us to get them involved in writing the process theory of project management so that incremental improvement can take place. Too much is being made of project failure. We must resist the human condition to always dwell on the problems. We must become solution orientated. Our strength lies in collaboration not division. Finally, as you can see, the history of project management depends on your perspective. But ultimately one must decide:
References The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. Kerzner H, Project Management, New York: Van Nostrand, 1984. West JD, Levy FK, A Management guide to PERT and CPM, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1977. A guide to the project management body of knowledge, Upper Darby: Project Management Institute, 1996. PM Network, Project Management Institute, USA, 1991-1997 Project Management Journal, Project Management Institute, USA, 1991-1997 Project Management Handbook, Cleland DI/King WR, (Ed) New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988. Barnes M, Have project, will travel, BBC Van Der Merwe AP, Another shot at understanding project risk, In proceedings of International Project Management Association, 14th World Congress, Slovenia, Ljubljana June 1998 Turner JR, The handbook of project-based management, London: McGraw-Hill, 1993. Body of Knowledge, Britain: Association for Project Management, 1996. British Standard 6079: British Standards Institute, 1996. Project, Association for Project Management, Britain 1991- 1997 International Journal of Project Management, Britain: Elsevier, 1991- 1997 Bauval R, Hancock G, Keeper of Genesis, London: Heinemann, 1996 Hancock G, The Sign and the Seal, Britain: Mandarin, 1996. Project Pro, Project Publishing, SA, 1991- |
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COLLABORATE, NEVER COMPROMISE |
