MENTAL MODEL · M3728

Program Evaluation and Review Technique

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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-28

CORE DEFINITION

The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a statistical tool used in project management, designed to analyze and represent the tasks involved in completing a given project. PERT was originally developed by Charles E. Clark for the United States Navy in 1958; it is commonly used in conjunction with the Critical Path Method (CPM), which was also introduced in 1958.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a statistical tool used in project management, designed to analyze and represent the tasks involved in completing a given project.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Nodes represent events, arrows represent tasks, and they are connected into a network according to dependencies. Along the dependency chain, the earliest/latest start times are calculated to derive the total duration of each path; the longest path is the "critical path"—any delay on it directly extends the project. Non-critical paths have "float time" as buffer.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Practice this model in one real situation:

List tasks and their dependencies, and draw a network diagram.
Forward pass: calculate the earliest start/finish for each task.
Backward pass: calculate the latest start/finish to obtain float time.
Tasks with zero float form the critical path, which should be tightly managed.

Check to track your progress (stored locally)

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Source support: Explicit

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en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Program_evaluation_and_review_techniqueZH · Explicit
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