Performance control in government R&D projects: The measurable effects of performing required management and engineering techniques

A large number and variety of management and engineering techniques (such as PERT, value engineering, and configuration management) have been implemented over the past decade to improve the technical, cost, and schedule performance of government-sponsored R&D projects. However, such R&D efforts continue to be plagued with technical, schedule, and cost difficulties. The intent of the research reported here was to determine if the required performance of management and engineering techniques resulted in a measurable difference in project technical, schedule, and cost performance. The study utilized performance and control data collected from 108 government-sponsored R&D projects which occurred in the 1950-1967 time period. The major findings of the study were 1) the application of a large volume and variety of management control techniques to R&D projects could not be statistically associated with levels of project technical, schedule, and cost difficulties that were lower than was encountered in projects not having such control; and 2) the application of a large volume and variety of management control techniques to R&D projects tends to be associated with greater numbers of technical, schedule, and cost failures than were associated with projects not having such control.