4.2 Promoting project success
There has been a substantial amount of research into the evaluation of projects, particularly since the media have a long tradition of reporting on project failures. A number of researchers have established a set of factors which, taken together, indicate that a project has a high likelihood of success. The research is complicated by the fact that different stakeholders give different evaluations of the same project. Furthermore, such evaluations have been found to change over time (see, for example, Fortune and White, 2006).
The two main perspectives on project success follow the simple classification identified in Section 4.1:
- Success criteria are those related to the what? question, and are a mixture of qualitative and quantitative measures.
- Critical success factors are those related to the how? question, and are to be found in the project and its environment (a change in any factor is readily linked to project risk).
The success criteria can be identified as part of the case made for a project. Once it has started, the project manager will also have to consider those success factors that will have an influence on the project as it proceeds.
In the broadest sense, project success is about the satisfaction of all the stakeholders. In practice, the success criteria are associated with the basic characteristics of a project so that it can be more readily quantifiable. That is to say, project success is narrowed down to an assessment of whether the time, cost and quality constraints have been met.
Success criteria will differ from project to project according to an understanding of issues relating to their size, complexity and uniqueness. Hence, there is no single checklist that can be used for every project. Most research, such as Turner (1999) and Wateridge (1998), has focused upon the range of criteria from the most readily quantifiable to the broadest qualitative criteria according to the following descriptions:
- the facility is produced to specification within budget and on time
- the facility/project achieves its business purpose and meets
- the project team is happy during the project and with the outcome of the project
- users are happy during the project and with its outcome
- the project is profitable for the contractors
- the project satisfies the needs of stakeholders.
Fortune and White (2006) have reviewed the research into critical success factors and found a set of relationships that can address the fact that each factor can vary over time.
| Project attributes from a systems viewpoint | Critical success factors |
|---|---|
| Goals and objectives | Clear realistic objectives |
| Strong business case/sound basis for project | |
| Performance monitoring | Effective monitoring/control |
| Planned close-down/review/acceptance of possible failure | |
| Decision makers | Support from senior management |
| Competent project manager | |
| Strong/detailed plan kept up to date | |
| Realistic schedule | |
| Good leadership | |
| Correct choice/past experience of project management methods/tools | |
| Transformations | Skilled/suitably qualified/sufficient staff |
| Communication | Good communication/feedback |
| Environment | Political stability |
| Environmental influences | |
| Learning from past experiences | |
| Organisational culture/structure | |
| Boundaries | Project size/level of complexity/number of people involved/duration |
| Resources | Adequate budget |
| Sufficient/well-allocated resources | |
| Training provision | |
| Proven/familiar technology | |
| Good performance by suppliers/ contractors/consultants | |
| Continuity | Risks addressed/assessed/managed |
| General | User/client/sponsor/champion involvement |
| Appreciation of different viewpoints | |
| Effective change management |
The sense of uniqueness with regard to projects indicates that each of the above factors will affect projects in different ways. A business case, for example, might contain a prioritised list of critical success factors to reflect the context in which the proposed project will take place. For each critical success factor, it may be possible to identify a qualitative or quantitative measure that can be monitored during the project. Any variation beyond a given threshold for a particular critical success factor can be interpreted as placing the project at risk.