Analysis of Project Success Criteria and Success Factors
Introduction
We often hear or read about various success stories. But what is success and what criteria should organizations use to identify success? What factors lead to a successful project? The purpose of this article is to define project success criteria, clarify their difference with success factors and analyse their importance in project management methodology.
One of the vaguest concepts of project management is project success. Since each individual or group of people who are involved in a project have different needs and expectations, it is very unsurprising that they interpret project success in their own way of understanding (Cleland & Ireland, 2004, p2). "For those involved with a project, project success is normally thought of as the achievement of some pre-determined project goals" (Lim & Mohamed, 1999, p244) while the general public has different views, commonly based on user satisfaction. A classic example of different perspective of successful project is the Sydney Opera House project (Thomsett, 2002), which went 16 times over budget and took 4 times more to finish than originally planned. But the final impact that the Opera House created was so big that no one remembers the original missed goals. The project was a big success for the people and at the same time a big failure from the project management perspective. On the other hand, the Millennium Dome in London was a project on time and on budget but in the eyes of the British people was considered a failure because it didn’t deliver the awe and glamour that it was supposed to generate (Cammack, 2005). "In the same way that quality requires both conformance to the specifications and fitness for use, project success requires a combination of product success (service, result, or outcome) and project management success" (Duncan, 2004).
The difference between criteria and factors is fuzzy for many people. The Cambridge Advanced Learner 's Dictionary describes a criterion as "a standard by
We often hear or read about various success stories. But what is success and what criteria should organizations use to identify success? What factors lead to a successful project? The purpose of this article is to define project success criteria, clarify their difference with success factors and analyse their importance in project management methodology.
One of the vaguest concepts of project management is project success. Since each individual or group of people who are involved in a project have different needs and expectations, it is very unsurprising that they interpret project success in their own way of understanding (Cleland & Ireland, 2004, p2). "For those involved with a project, project success is normally thought of as the achievement of some pre-determined project goals" (Lim & Mohamed, 1999, p244) while the general public has different views, commonly based on user satisfaction. A classic example of different perspective of successful project is the Sydney Opera House project (Thomsett, 2002), which went 16 times over budget and took 4 times more to finish than originally planned. But the final impact that the Opera House created was so big that no one remembers the original missed goals. The project was a big success for the people and at the same time a big failure from the project management perspective. On the other hand, the Millennium Dome in London was a project on time and on budget but in the eyes of the British people was considered a failure because it didn’t deliver the awe and glamour that it was supposed to generate (Cammack, 2005). "In the same way that quality requires both conformance to the specifications and fitness for use, project success requires a combination of product success (service, result, or outcome) and project management success" (Duncan, 2004).
The difference between criteria and factors is fuzzy for many people. The Cambridge Advanced Learner 's Dictionary describes a criterion as "a standard by
References: 1. A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge, 2004, 3rd Edition, Project Management Institute, USA 2 3. Baguley, 1995, Managing Successful Projects: A guide for every manager, Pitman Publishing, London UK, p8 4 5. Cambridge University, The Cambridge Advanced Learner 's Dictionary, 2005, 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press, UK 6 7. Cleland & Ireland, 2002, p210, Project Management: Strategic Design and implementation, McGraw-Hill Professional, USA 8 11. Evans, 2005, Overdue and over budget, over and over again, The Economist Jun 9th 2005, [Electronic] 12 13. Kerzner, 2001, Strategic planning for project management using a project management maturity model, Wiley & Sons, New York, page 158 14 15. Maylor, 2005, Project Management, Third Edition with CD Microsoft Project, Prentice Hall, UK, p288 16 17. Right Track Associates, 2003, Defining project success, [Online], Available: http://www.ittoolkit.com/cgi-bin/itmember/itmember.cgi?file=assess_pmsuccess.htm , [2005, Nov.5] 18 19. The Standish Group International, 2001, Extreme CHAOS: The Standish Group International, [Electronic] 20 21. Tinnirello, 2002, New Directions in Project Management, Auerbach, USA, page 14 22 23. Tukel & Rom, 1998, Analysis of the Characteristics of Projects in diverse industries, Journal of Operations Management, Vol 16, pp43-61 24 25. Wideman, 1996, Improving PM: Linking Success Criteria to Project Type, paper presented to the Southern Alberta Chapter, Project Management Institute, Calgary Symposium