Project success vs Project management success

Two perspectives need to be considered when evaluating a project’s performance: project success and project management success.

Project success answers the question “Was the right project done”? This relates to the effectiveness of the project, which translates into the long-term benefits and value of the project. Some of the factors that enable project success are the cooperation of both project management and line management and aligning projects with the organization's strategy and goals.

On the other hand, project management success responds to the question “Was the project done right”? This relates to efficiency in the project which translates into delivering the project within the constraints: scope, quality, and time. Some activities that enable project management success are planning and scheduling, cost, and risk management.

Even though one kind of success does not guarantee that the project will be completely successful, several studies have shown a correlation between these two kinds of success. The chances of the overall project's success rise when the right planning, budgeting, and scope are defined in advance. Many frameworks have been developed to measure project success. Some of them focus on overall success, such as "The relative importance of project success dimensions” developed by Stan Lipovetsky. It suggests measuring project success by evaluating four different dimensions: meeting design and planning goals; customer benefits; benefit to the implementing organisation; and benefit to the infrastructure. Alternatively, other frameworks only focus on one kind of success, such as the Iron Triangle of Projects, which involves the three main constraints in Project Management: cost, quality and cost.

One of the main limitations when evaluating project success is that it can be very challenging defining success criteria. As viewpoints and priorities differ, individuals will perceive success differently. Furthermore, effectiveness measures are less tangible and, as they are focused on long-term benefits, they are more difficult to estimate.

Big idea

The way in which a project's success is measured has evolved over time. Traditionally, projects were measured using a classic approach. Nowadays, we are moving towards using a state of the art approach .

• The classic view focuses on the requirements of the project, short-term output and time, cost and scope.
• The state of the art view evaluates the overall business case, the vision, long-term benefits and the success criteria. This view makes it harder to assess a project's success as it is more vague and harder to quantify.

A common description of a project manager’s goal is to manage projects in such a way that brings completion on time, within budget and that ensures the intended quality . Hence, quality and scope should be defined from the very beginning of the project. Even though the right planning of the project does not guarantee success, the lack of planning will most likely cause it to fail. Therefore, one would assume that defining the right planning, budgeting and scope clear in advance would at least, increase the chances of a project’s success. However, there have been many projects that followed the initial plan, leading to completion within time and budget while meeting previously defined success criteria but ended up failing. These projects failed to provide long-term value for the company or produce any benefits for stakeholders . Therefore, to assess a project’s success, two perspectives have been defined :

• Project success is based on the long-term benefits and value of the project. It is associated with effectiveness, which is the capability of delivering the desired result
• Project management success is based on delivering the requirements on time within budget. It is associated with efficiency, which is doing things right. Successful project management means planning in the right way and following the plan.

Figure 1 - Project Management vs Project Success

Project Management Success

Project management success answers to the question: “Was the project done right?”. A project manager must manage time, cost, and quality. Once the objectives and business case of a project have been clearly defined the project manager and their team should use the available resources to meet the objectives within the constraints. On the other hand, projects are always characterized by a certain level of uncertainty, which will most likely change the course of the project. To minimize risks and their consequences, it is also essential for the project manager to make proper risk management and monitoring plan to make sure that the project is still delivered within the given constraints .

The main activities of a project manager to enable project management success are the ones that follow :

• Planning: Defining the project deliverables and requirements and define how the project objectives should be met.
• Benefit Management: Making sure that the customer realizes the benefits described in the business plan.
• Scope Management: Determining and documenting the outputs, outcomes and benefits of a project.
• Resource Management: Plan, allocate and schedule the available resources in the most efficient way
• Schedule Management: Forecasting the start and end date of all activities in a project
• Cost Management: Estimating, budgeting and controlling the costs involved in a project
• Risk Management: Listing and assessing all possible risks for a project, as well as making a mitigation plan to reduce or cancel the effects.
• Issues Management: Resolving issues to make sure there is not a negative impact in the project
• Change Control: Controlling changes and accepting or rejecting them
• Quality Management: Establishing standards for the project as well as the steps to meet them
• Stakeholder Engagement: Understanding, building and maintaining relationships with the stakeholders of the project
• Communication Management: Enabling effective communication with stakeholders to contribute to the project’s goals completion
• Managing organizational and societal change: Ensuring the delivery of desired outcomes under changes in both the organization and society
• Reporting: Presenting the current status of the project to forecast and make educated decisions
• Information and documentation Management: Making sure the necessary information is available for those making decisions
• Procurement: Obtaining the necessary products and services for the project’s completion
• Lessons learned: Documenting and sharing the lessons learned of a project to use in future projects

Project Success

Project success answers to the question: “Was the project right project done?”. Project success occurs when it delivers the benefits that were anticipated by the stakeholders who initiated the project. Usually, this type of success has to do more with "value for money" and it's probably the most valuable to the sponsor. Project success is harder to evaluate than project management success since the benefits of a project are often realized after completion, not during the lifecycle of the project . However, several studies have been made concluding that some of the factors that enable project success are the ones that follow :

• A process for delivering and managing benefits that involves the cooperation of both project management and line management.
• Manage projects according to an organization's strategy and goals by utilizing portfolio and programme management practices.
• Project, program, and portfolio metrics that provide direct feedback on current project performance and future success to make sure that project, portfolio, and corporate decisions are consistent.
• Using implicit and explicit knowledge to achieve continuous improvement in the management of projects. This should encourage project managers to learn and integrate such learning into continuous improvement in practices and processes.

Application

Many different frameworks have been developed throughout the years to help achieve and measure project and project management success. Some of these methods will be presented in this article divided based on wether they are related to project management success, project success or overall success.

Project Management success

Work Breakdown Structure

Developing a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is the foundation for initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling a project