About this issue

THE ANALYTICAL LITERATURE on PERT and related methods for planning, scheduling and controlling R, D, and E continues to pile up. Criticisms and suggestions for modifications and re-evaluation are generally aimed at two aspects: the underlying assumptions and the practical limitations. These TRANSACTIONS have carried many articles on both aspects in the past few years. See, for example, the following issues: September and December, 1960; March, 1961; March, September, and December 1962; March, June, September, and December, 1963. The prominent role of articles related to this subject in the TRANSACTIONS stems from the possibility that a whole new concept of project and program planning and control is currently being formulated. It is still in the category of “possibility” because the conditions under which this new concept was developed were unusual and directly tied to military R, D, and E. It remains to be seen which aspects of the new concept will become a routine part of R, D, and E management in commercial as well as government projects.