From the construction of the Pyramids of Giza to Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire, the principles of Project Management have been used by civilizations for all of human history to effectively manage limited resources, in order to reach a desired unique outcome, within a specified time frame.

Hi everyone! Welcome to IPMER’s first article on our newly published website, we’re so glad to have you here. Today, we’ll be talking a little bit about the history of Project Management and how we still manage projects using similar principles as civilizations from thousands of years ago. We feel understanding the beginning of Project Management is the perfect point to begin our blog, to truly immerse you in the field and help make your journey in becoming one of the best Project Managers out there a little easier.

WHAT IS PROJECT MANAGEMENT?

Firstly, what even is Project Management? Project management can be simply defined as any actions undertaken to plan, execute, track and control project activities in order to achieve a unique clearly defined outcome. A key factor to remember is that projects must always result in an unique outcome and must always be temporary, otherwise the tasks would fall under the definition of operations rather than projects.

WHERE DOES PROJECT MANAGEMENT COME FROM?

So how did Project Management come into practice? It can be argued that the concept of Project Management has been in practice for as long as human civilization has existed, even if Project Management was only recognized as a distinct discipline from management in the mid-20th century.

BUILDING THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA

All great ancient civilizations fought to create monuments, temples and essential infrastructure for their vast empires, and inevitably established the foundations of Project Management through their grand projects.

One of the most famous examples of an infrastructure project during the classical antiquity period was the construction of the Pyramids of Giza, built under Khufu the second Pharaoh of the 4th Dynasty of Egypt.

This project aimed to create grand tombs for the Pharaohs of Egypt and required extensive planning to ensure effective resource and time management. The construction of the pyramids required tens of thousands of workers, from skilled laborers like stonemasons and engineers, to unskilled workers for moving the blocks that made up the pyramids. This massive manpower requirement meant that Hemiunu, Khufu’s vizier and architect of the Pyramids of Giza, would have had to extensively plan out the project to ensure that all workers were fed and paid regularly. The construction of the pyramids had to have a strict timeline too as it had to coincide with the Pharaoh's reign and be finished in time for his burial, meaning effective time management was a must during construction. The pyramids had to be built to last an eternity as the final resting place for the Pharaohs of Egypt, whom the citizens viewed as either divine or semi-divine figures, forcing quality management to be a priority as well during construction to ensure the pyramids were up to the standard required.

These key aspects of Project Management being evident in the construction of the Pyramids of Giza prove how old the concept really is, with the construction of the pyramids being estimated to have been completed in the early 25th century BCE.

CONQUERING THE ACHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE

This wasn’t the only example of project management in ancient times, with military campaigns of ancient empires also being an excellent example of how projects can vary entirely on their content yet remain the same in principle throughout all of human history.

Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia from 334 BCE onward was a massive undertaking that required the effective use of resource management, risk management, stakeholder management, along with a clear strategic vision for the future of his growing empire.

This military campaign can be defined as a project when viewed under the lens of a Project Manager as it encompasses many key principles of Project Management. The scope of the military campaign was well defined with Alexander the Great aiming to conquer the vast Persian Empire, which included Turkey, Iran, Egypt and swathes of territory of Central Asia. He had a clear strategic vision for his military campaign, which was to overthrow the Persian Empire and establish Macedonian as a regional power. He identified key milestones in his military campaign necessary for success, such as victory at the Battle of Issus and the Siege of Tyre. These principles align with Project Managers having to establish a clear project scope and identify key tasks needed to achieve the project outcomes desired.

The knowledge area of resource management was vital in ensuring his success and Alexander the Great paid close attention to ensuring that supply lines were secure and focused primarily on using local resources when possible. Risk management was a key component of his military campaign as well and Alexander the Great effectively mitigated all possible risks such as preventing long supply lines, preparing for the possibility of rebellions in conquered territories, and acting decisively to maintain morale. With many stakeholders such as his generals, his troops and the local populations of conquered territories, Alexander the Great was highly effective at stakeholder management and skillfully maintained all his relationships through a variety of tactics, including leading his troops from the front to maintain morale, and adopting local customs to gain the support of the population of conquered territories.

These key aspects of Project Management were both evident in the infrastructure projects of ancient civilizations as well as their military campaigns, proving the diversity of projects in human history.

WRAPPING UP

As you can see, Project Management has been alive and well for all of human history, despite the term Project Management only being defined in the middle of the 20th century. Humanity would not have reached the level of prosperity we enjoy in the modern day without relying on the principles of Project Management throughout all of human history, having changed the world one project at a time.

We hope you enjoyed this insight into the history of Project Management in ancient times and we’ll be back next time with a more modern day article discussing AI in Project Management. Stay tuned for more!