A path less-traveled has become the highway: How Peter Morris’s The Anatomy of Major Projects pointed the way to modern project management research and practice

Abstract

In his seminal book, The Anatomy of Major Projects (co-authored with George Hough), Peter Morris established himself as one of the early, original theorists in project management scholarship.  Not simply a ground-breaking study of major projects at its time, Anatomy has proven to have both a lasting residual impact as well as serving as a wellspring of new ideas and directions for research and theory in the field. This essay, honoring Morris's impact on our scholarly community, focuses on an examination of Anatomy - both on its many contributions, as well as serving as the source for shifting the manner in which a new generation of academics and practitioners understand how projects can best be organized, managed, and understood.