PERT for the engineer

Engineers may associate PERT with large military programs and computers, but they should know that PERT can also be applied effectively to modest engineering tasks Although PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) was successfully introduced in 1958 on the Polaris Weapons System Program and subsequently it and similar networking techniques were enthusiastically accepted in the management of the development phase of weapons systems programs, as well as within industries such as construction, we now observe a curious phenomenon. Many engineers, employed as project engineers either by large corporations on major programs or by small laboratories engaged in component or subsystem development, still question the effectiveness of PERT for their own use. Much of the cynicism that greets the technique can be traced, in part, to a lack of conviction on the part of engineers that PERT can be an effective planning and control technique for modest task applications as well as for large programs necessitating elaborate, computer-based applications.