History of Project Management

Like all management subjects, project management has also a long history starting since the big projects of pyramids, temples, palaces etc… A very brief history of the project management by using the classification shown in the following table.

History of Project Management

Before 1900s	1900-1950	1950-1969
·   Wonderful projects ·   Work force is cheap and even expendable ·   Urgency is not driven by rat-race ·   Management organization structures are seen in church and army ·   No management scientists ·   No project management profession	·   Emergence of management science ·   People begin to study work and people at work ·   Henry Gantt introduced his famous planning charts ·   Early development of CPM	·   US defense projects use CPM ·   Mainframe computers run project management software ·   Project management becomes a recognized profession ·   More concern for people at work
1970-1979	1980-1989	1990-2000+
·   Project management has two meanings: o   Industrial project management o   IT project management ·   Creation of professional associations ·   More project management software ·   Legislation for health and safety ·   Anti-discrimination laws were introduced	·   Desktop computers run powerful project management software ·   Better graphs with color ·   Managers are less dependant to IT experts ·   Computers can not now run arrow networks and precedence becomes the norm ·   Wider acceptance of project management as a profession	·   PCs and notebooks can run all applications ·   More interest in project risk ·   IT and industrial project management no longer considered so differently ·   Project management is a respected profession ·   Worldwide communication with satellite and the internet