A Brief History of Earned Value Management

Earned Value Management (EVM) has become a necessity in government and construction project management since its development in the 1960s. In short, EVM takes the legwork and guesswork out of forecasting by pulling scope, time and costs into one integrated system.

The introduction of project management techniques

It all began in 1958, when the U.S. Navy developed PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) to help streamline the completion of the Polaris missile project. PERT was later credited the project’s completion years earlier than anticipated.

Following the unprecedented success, the U.S. government made it mandatory that PERT (or a similar technique) be used in all major projects. Over time, new and more streamlined processes were introduced to project management. By the mid-1960s, at least 10 unique versions had been developed.

A few years later, an engineer named David Burnstein created EVM. Burnstein, who was working at Parsons Corporation, one of the world’s largest engineering construction firms, also co-authored the first textbook on project management for the architecture, engineering and construction industry, which sold more than 80,000 copies.

PERT vs. EVM

PERT and EVM are both used throughout the world today, but they have significant differences. PERT generally assumes that future performance will parallel the original plan, unless changes are made to the original timeline or cost. It also assumes that no problems will occur in the future. EVM, however, assumes that the original plan will change based on past and current problems – the original plan is not necessarily an indicator of the final result. 

The future of EVM

EVM is now more than 50 years old and is widely used by executives, program and project managers and stakeholders to manage and forecast projects effectively. At Manta Ray Consulting, we specialize in providing EVM services to defense, energy and large construction organizations. Learn more about EVM and what it can accomplish for your organization here.