Page 26 - Global Project Management Handbook

1-8 STATE OF THE ART OF GLOBAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

language. This number does not include books on aspects of project management that
have other terms in their titles, such as project manager and risk management.

GOVERNMENT LITERATURE

In 1964, the U.S. Air Force announced publication of a series of manuals and policies
to force consistent management processes over the design and acquisition of major
weapons systems. The series changed the relationship between the government and
private industry, whereby private industry had to adopt and use the defined practices.
The manuals and policies selected to effect management change were part of a series
of Air Force Systems Command Manuals referred to as the 375 Series. The six most
important of these manuals are
AFSCM 375-1, Configuration Management
AFSCM 375-3, System Program Office Manual
AFSCM 375-4, System Program Management
AFSCM 375-5, System Engineering Management Procedures
AFSCM 375-6, Development Engineering
AFSCM 310-1, Management of Contractor Data and Reports

In addition, other policy and procedure guidelines were published in the form of operating
instructions, pamphlets, regulations, and other supporting documentation.
The impact of the 375 Series of guidelines was to introduce changes in the
government–defense industry relationship. The impact that these guidelines had on the
evolving project management literature was significant in terms of shaping project man-
agement in the United States and in countries influenced by the manner in which U.S.
project management has been conducted. Much of the early literature of the 1960s and
1970s drew on and reflected the philosophies, concepts, processes, and techniques put
forth in the 375 Series. Today, as the project management literature continues to emerge,
one can see some of the early seeds of the 375 Series and how these seeds matured.

LEADING PROJECTS OF ANTIQUITY

One cannot review the history of civilization without concluding that projects on
scales both small and epic have been central to the continued evolution of society.
Examples of some of the leading people and projects of antiquity that have created
change include the following:

Prince Henry of Portugal (1394–1460)
In the early years of the fifteenth century, Prince Henry the Navigator developed and operated
what could be called today a research and development laboratory located in Sagres,
Portugal. The voyages of the discovery that set forth could be considered to be “projects.”
These projects of discovery made important conditions to the evolving body of knowledge in
cartography, navigation, and shipbuilding. Experiments in shipbuilding produced a new type
of ship—the caravel, which made future exploration projects possible.