Project Management History of Project Thesis

The 1960's were also characterized by project management development. The discipline and practice of project management were influenced by a series of new techniques and tools like earned value, or work breakdown structures.

Project management's importance became even more obvious in the 1970s when it became a permanent function for companies working with projects. This is the time when a series of institutes and organizations designed for project management started to develop and to implement a series of techniques designed to facilitate the work of engineers and to reduce time and costs for any project.

The 1980s is the period when project management as a discipline reached its maturity and started to consider and to include other disciplines like risk management, total quality management, partnering, and the definition of project success (Kozak-Holland, 2008). During the 1990s, the discipline of project management was characterized by a series of changes.

The most important contributors to the development of project management as a discipline are Frederick Taylor, Henry Gantt, Richard Johnson, Fremont Kast, and James Rosenzweig. Frederick Taylor is responsible for applying scientific reasoning to work, and for analyzing work processes. Henry Gantt continued Taylor's involvement in project management (Bista, 2006).

Henry Gantt developed a series of planning and organizing methods by using bar charts as a project management tool, leading the way for the development of modern project management techniques.

Reference List

Kozak-Holland, Mark (2008). Lessons from History. Retrieved December 11, 2008 at http://www.lessons-from-history.com/Level%202/History_of_PM_page.html.

Bista, B. (2006). Project Management: History and Evolution. Retrieved December 11, 2008 at http://ezinearticles.com/?Project-Management:-History-and-Evolution&id=340860.