PM World Today Letters To The Editor

Very Interesting comments in the article "WHO ARE THE TRUE LEADERS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT?"

As an University of Texas Construction Engineering anr Project Management Program (CEPM) ex student, I would like to find Dr. Richard Tucker in the list (founder and former director of the program). Dr. Tucker has been a leader in the graduate programs of Project Management, and his support to the Construction Industry Institute has led to hundreds of project management research, with the support of universities and industry members. Dr. Tucker's job has led Project Management to the sphera of a distingish field of knowledge in academia. Industry invests an important amount of time and money supporting CII´s research mainly because its products strenghten the ProjectManagement practice with scientific support. The Project Management Field needs more and more study, more and more research to keep growing in reputation and results, and Dr. Tucker's contribution to this growth is undeniable.

Thanks!
Ana Rodriguez

Dear Mr. Robert Youker

I have gone through the view points of you on PROJECT MANAGER SUCCESS CRITERIA, This article is very close to the realistic situation of these days. I felt the article is very informative and useful.

Can you share your view points on the future for project management in Pharmaceutical industry with respect to New product development.

Thanks and regards
Chowdary.G.P.
chowdarygp@yahoo.com

The article in the May issue on the history of scheduling by Patrick Weaver was well done but missed some important developments. It would have benefited greatly if the author had read Peter Morris's book, "The Managment of Projects" a well done history of Project Management (Thomas Telford Books, London 1994). The paper does a great job of detailing the Walker and
Kelly contribution to developing arrow diagramming. It missed the name of Wil Fazar who did key work on the PERT system.

It also missed the early work of the foundations of precedence diagramming by the British Central Electricity Generating Board in 1957, Mr B. Roy in 1958 with METRA Consultants of France with the MPM (the Metra Potential Method) and the Germans about the same time in Munich with RPS. He also missed Planalog System developed in 1962 and patented in in 1964 for creating and maintaining critical path networks on a wall mounted display board. If you look today at an MS Project linked Gantt Chart you are seeing exactly a Planalog Schedule Board which was in 3 D not on a computer screen or printed on a piece of paper. The Planalog gave an immediate display of results of changes in a schedule at a time when central computers faced
several days or weeks of delay. I have been told the Primavera System was based on Planalog. Both were developed in the Philadelphia area.

Robert Youker