🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <ewright.726254206@convex.convex.com> ewright@convex.com (Edward V. Wright) writes:
>In <C0Cu9q.Bz9@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>
>>What they don't tell you in the textbooks is that although Pert charts
>>were indeed invented for Polaris, they *weren't* used to manage it --
>>they were used to intimidate assorted Washington kibitzers, keeping
>>them at arms length from the people who actually ran the project
>>(in the traditional way, using competence and judgement rather than
>>Pert charts).
>
>Doesn't surprise me.  From my experience, that seems to be the 
>main way they're still used today.

The Pert chart is a tool of the competent and experienced manager
that allows him to visualize the potential bottlenecks in his
schedule, and to track his project's progress to make sure he
isn't slipping badly because of a subassembly with development
problems. Competent managers don't have to use this tool any more
than they have to use spreadsheets, but it does make the job
easier to use the proper tool. Really competent management, like
the Japanese with their just in time methods, depend on Pert
charts, or their equivalents, to spot potential trouble in their
programs before it impacts their schedule. Trying to carry the
schedule of a complex project in your head almost always results
in some tiny but vital part of the program being overlooked until
it's too late.

Gary

I can't believe I'm giving free management seminars here. I should
be getting paid for this. :-)
-- 
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