
Top stories






More news









Marketing & Media
Chicken Licken bravely debones a rare phobia with their latest campaign
Joe Public 2 days








Often the response to these questions is 'No', leaving many project managers feeling cheated or uneasy: they feel they have no 'say' in these aspects of a project and are being unfairly judged. However, are they?
Most researchers in this area, point out that judgement about project failure is essentially a personal perception. This reflects local circumstances, expectations and the degree to which they have been impacted. It is not uncommon, even within a small business, for one group to perceive a project as a failure while others see it as a success.
The rather unexciting, but profoundly important answer to "Why are some projects perceived as failures when they actually meet time, cost, and scope targets?" and "Why are some projects considered a success, even when they are late and over budget?" is found in Cleland and King.
"...[I]f there is a high level of satisfaction concerning the project outcome among key people ... the project is considered a success..." or, to put it more bluntly, if the right people consider a project a success, it is a success.
This knowledge specifically and valuably indicates what project managers should do to be considered successful. They simply have to make sure they know what the 'right people' are looking for, and make sure the 'right people' know what to expect - and then deliver that.
Slevin and Pinto (early pioneers in this area) identified ten success factors for projects, of which three are reviewed here:
It is important to understand that the factors affecting success and their relative importance do vary across project implementation stages.
In the early stages, strategic factors such as the 'project mission' predominate. In the execution stages the tactical factors such as 'client involvement' rise in importance. 'Communication' and 'troubleshooting' do not have a 'season' - they have to be attended to throughout the project.
The findings of PiCubed, of CITI and of researchers across the world, are that in the absence of appropriate attention to these success factors, projects do fail. The message is clear.