The origin of Crunch

Afternoon everyone!

I'm currently conducting a postgrad research project on crunch, in particular from a project management perspective. The importance of this subject is something of which I have no doubt you are aware, and I hope it's a testament to my dedication that I'm still working on xmas eve! I have the considerable resources of WMG at the University of Warwick at my disposal, but I'm looking right now for some initial discovery on the subject.

At the moment I'm trying to identify the origin of the term 'crunch' in a software environment. I am aware of John Boddie's book 'Crunch Mode: Building Effective Systems on a Tight Schedule' from 1986, and this seems to be the earliest application in literature. I'd like to rummage through his references but I can't find an online version of the book and my library is closed for the holidays. I have found earlier references to 'crunch time' though these refer to the 'critical moment' definition as opposed to crunch being an aspect of the software project environment.

I was wondering if any of my well-read contempories could either illuminate me, or at least point me in the right direction.

Oh, and happy hols etc!