designed to save time in achieving end-objectives, and is of particular interest to those engaged in research and development programs for which time is a critical factor. The new technique takes recognition of three factors that influence successful achievement of research and development program objectives: time, resources, and technical performance specifications. PERT employs time as the variable that reflects planned resource applications and performance specifications. With units of time as a common denominator, PERT quantifies knowledge about the uncertainties involved in developmental programs requiring effort at the edge of, or beyond, current knowledge of the subject – effort for which little or no previous experience exists... The concept of PERT was developed by an operations research team staffed with representatives from the Operations Research Department of Booz, Allen and Hamilton; the Evaluation Office of the Lockheed Missile Systems Division; and the Program Evaluation Branch, Special Projects Office, of the Department of the Navy." Reduction of R&D cycle As member of the Polaris management team, Fazar in 1961 was cited in the Missiles and Rockets. journal explaining the power of PERT. He had stated: "... modern system management technique have enabled us to reduce the R&D cycle, for major weapon systems, from 7-10 years to 3 years; we are confident that the cycle duration will be reduced even further as the full potential of the PERT approach is realized." Selected publications Willard Fazar. The Regulation and Taxation of the Motor Truck, Cornell Univ., 1936. U.S. Dept. of the Navy. Program Evaluation Research Task, Summary Report, Phase 1. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1958. U.S. Dept. of the Navy. Program Evaluation Research Task, Summary Report, Phase 2. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1958. Fazar, Willard. Progress Reporting in the Special Projects Office. 1961. Articles, a selection Malcolm, Donald G., Roseboom, J. H., Clark, C. E., & Fazar, W. (1959). Application of a technique for research and development program evaluation. Operations research, 7(5), 646–669. Fazar, Willard. "Program evaluation and review technique." The American Statistician 13.2 (1959): 10. Fazar, Willard. "The origin of PERT." The Controller 30 (1962): 598. Fazar, Willard. "Federal information communities: the systems approach." Paper delivered at the 1966 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. 1966. References 1915 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American economists Cornell University alumni