Despite the long history of project management, we still know relatively
little about what might be called its human aspects-what kinds of people
fit into a project organization, what effect project assignments have on
professional development, how institutions and their employees are affected
by the discontinuities that are a necessary concomitant of project management.
We still have much to learn about how to make the most of the
potential offered by project management while minimizing the side effects.
The following analysis seeks to draw some lessons from the experience
gained in two NASA projects. There are inherent drawbacks to such an
approach in that the events themselves are relatively recent; the perspective
is therefore quite close, and dispassionate judgments are difficult to
reach without the softening of time. There are, on the other hand, values
to such an examination while memories are still fresh and source materials
readily available.
