The document discusses the history and concepts of Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), two network analysis techniques used for project management. CPM was developed by DuPont in the 1950s for chemical plant projects, focusing on cost-time tradeoffs. PERT was developed by the US Navy for the Polaris missile program to minimize completion time given uncertain activity durations. Both techniques use network diagrams of nodes and arrows to represent activities and their dependencies. The critical path is the longest sequence of activities determining the minimum project duration.