TABLE OF CONTENTS The management of projects has changed substantially over the past 50 years. Many practitioners have not been exposed to these new concepts and techniques. The Project Management Institute, in 1994, issued A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, often referred to as the PMBOK Guide. The discussions in this chapter rely heavily on this guide to present concepts and techniques that have proven to be effective in managing projects, regardless of industry, discipline, or size of project. Industrial engineers have the opportunity to lead their organization in the application of modern project management to manage all projects, including methods improvement efforts, development of new processes, quality improvement programs, new construction, and the hiring and training of personnel. As in the introduction of any new methods, the industrial engineer must ensure that he or she has the best possible information and advice in installing project management.
D. E. Peterson, while president of Ford Motor Company, called a meeting of some 500 Ford executives and suppliers to introduce quality management as he had learned it from Deming. Peterson purportedly began his opening remarks something like this: "It's going to be hard for you to accept that you were promoted for the wrong reasons a time or two . I had the experience (in a recent meeting) that most people in the room thought I was talking about something so elementary that we, of course, already do it...
