16 December, 2021

A Short History of Project Management: Project Management Timeline | Video


This video is a bit different. I built a project management timeline of over 30 key events in the history of project management.

This video is safe for viewing in the workplace.

This is learning, so, sit back and enjoy

A Short History of Project Management

Pre-history of PM

-4004   According to Bishop Ussher’s calculations, the date of creation. God delivered his big project early and had a day off.

-2570   Completion of the Great Pyramid at Giza

Early Age of PM

1896    Karol Adamiecki, developed the harmonogram – but did not publish his chart until 1931

1910-1915        Henry Gantt Publishes the Gantt Chart

Golden Age of PM

1957    Critical Path Method (CPM) first developed by the Dupont Corporation

1958    The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is developed to support the US Navy’s Polaris project

1962    Use of Work Breakdown Structures required for all US Department of Defense projects

1965    Founding of the International Project Management Association (IPMA) as International Management Systems Association (ISMA). Renamed that year to INTERNET and became IPMA in 1996 because… the internet

1969    PMI Founded

1970    Winston Royce – Waterfall Process

1972    Foundation of the Association for Project Management (APM)

1975    Project Resource Organisation Management Planning Techniques (PROMPTII)

Silver Age of PM

1978    Toyota Production System – includes ideas of Lean production and the Kanban method

1984    Eliyahu Goldratt publishes The Goal and uses it to introduce his Theory of Constraints

1986    The term Scrum is used for Product development by Takeuchi and Nonaka in their HBR article, ‘The New New Product Development Game’

1987    PMI published the Project Management Body of Knowledge document that is the precursor to the PMBOK Guide.

1989    UK’s CCTA develops PRINCE from the earlier PROMPT II methodology. Initially, PRINCE stood for PROMPT II IN the CCTA Environment – later, it was changed to PRojects IN Controlled Environments

Rebirth of PM

1991    Early Agile methodology Crystal Clear developed by Alistair Cockburn

1995    Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber defined Scrum as an Agile framework

1996    was a busy year…

  • Kent Beck and others set out the Extreme Programming (XP) approach to software development
  • PMI Published the first edition of the Guide to the PMBOK 
  • PRINCE2 published
  • Second edition of the PMBOK Guide now includes the ANSI standard for Project Management 

1997    First publication of critical chain project management in Goldratt’s book, The Chain.

1997    Foundation of the International Association of Project Managers (IAPM)

Modern Age of PM

2001    Publication of the Agile Manifesto

2007    David Andersen describes the Kanban approach to software development

2009   Major revision to PRINCE2

2012    Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) created by Scott Ambler as a hybrid, enterprise-level framework  

2017    The APM received its Royal Charter

2021    PMI Publishes revolutionary 7th Edition of its PMBOK Guide

Carefully curated video recommendations that answer your questions: ‘What is…


What Kit does a Project Manager Need?

I asked Project Managers in a couple of forums what material things you need to have, to do your job as a Project Manager. They responded magnificently. I compiled their answers into a Kit list. I added my own. 

Check out the Kit a Project Manager needs

Note that the links are affiliated.

Learn Still More

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For more of our Project Management videos in themed collections, join our Free Academy of Project Management.

For more of our videos in themed collections, join our Free Academy of Project Management

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Mike Clayton

About the Author...

Dr Mike Clayton is one of the most successful and in-demand project management trainers in the UK. He is author of 14 best-selling books, including four about project management. He is also a prolific blogger and contributor to ProjectManager.com and Project, the journal of the Association for Project Management. Between 1990 and 2002, Mike was a successful project manager, leading large project teams and delivering complex projects. In 2016, Mike launched OnlinePMCourses.
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