Project is Deemed as Success when

Hi Ranjith it is very dificult to judge whether the project was a success or not according to me, this is often a hard thing to do because the client may not actually know what it would take for a project to be successful. Unfortunately clients often think that a project is successful when the end result looks the way that they may have imagined it. Usually this result is not one that will actually have an impact on their business objectives. So one needs to find out how it will have an impact???

I think for a project to be successfull one should ask the clients the question and at times there is a point where some questions come unanswered as it may get to the root of the goals that are set by the client which they are hesitant to discuss with you.....and many a times these will be avoided, as it may be the problem area or the weakest point of the client and these questions in the end matters a lot as it will have a great influence on the project success rate....even if the questions upset your client don't hesitate to ask them, make them understand by addressing those weak points one is able to have a great impact on the project...if these things are not addressed...then later we will be facing the blame, even if you have done a great job with the project.....

So would like to know views from other project managers.....

Beneficial Outcome to all stakeholders [as rightly indicated by Mr Panjabikesan] + Relevancy of Results + Timely Completion are keys to what can be defined as a successful project. It is possible that while objectives are met, the actual outcome as well as relevancy at the time of completion of the project may have been compromised, not as much due to poor planning but largely due to factors beyond the project team's scope of influence.

It is important that while giving due consideration for structure in project management, the project must be managed with lot of flexibility and scope for reflexive adaptation to unanticipated contingencies that can often render the entire or part of project objectives and scope meaningless or worse, expensive mistakes. I guess, importance of timely completion on project's success is something we all project managers will agree upon hands down.

And i cant agree more with Mr Das when he points out the customer perception of project outcome or the way it was managed.

My thoughts are, nevertheless, from a project manager's perspective. A client's perspective would probably make this discussion more balanced!

I guess the question is when do we consider the project to be a success.

Here there are different Perspectives. -

- Developr's perspective -- when his job completes on time and with good design. Also when his work passes through the Q & A and he gets no issues.

- Manager's perpective - When he hands over the project to the customer. WIth 0 UAT bugs and on Time

- Company's perspecticve - when the company receives its paynment along with a testimonial from the customer about the good work done.

- Customer's perspective - When the developed product sells in the market.

Everything boils down to the Customer's perspective. If the product sells, then it is a success, else failure. If the product does not sell, then the money and appraisal doesn't flow down to the Developer level.

A quality project is a successful project and a project is said to be a quality project if:

1.the work has been done in a safe and environmental friendly atmosphere

 2.the customer is happy with overall performance

3.end users feel satisfied

4.it respects and fulfills all the system requirements of the organisation .

5.it is able to maintain the desired product quality

6.the targeted profit has been achieved or exceeded

 7.the project has been completed on or before the target date

Hi

this is really interesting questions, as over last 5- 6 years have implemented over for than  30 plus projects. The sucess criteria is different for every project, it depends on the industries, type of project, etc...

For a simple point of project management  of IT company it is complteion on schedule and within budget.

From the customer stand point, when will the project start returning the revenue, is it helping the top line growth of the company, is it helping the employees to work for faster and efficently. Is there any cross selling happening. 

From the goverment project, has it impacted the society in positve way, has it controlled the enviroment aspect, etc...

So in simple lay man terms

Within Budget

Within Schedule

Quality Product/Services

Positve impact on all the stakeholders - Sponsors, business team, operational team, project team, people, enviroment, family, etc...

Long term avaibility in same operational metrics

In short - Project is Deemed as Success when it was planned properly and executed well in order to solve the purpose of requirement.

One needs to understand the requirements of clients by asking , questioning , suggesting things and then having clients requirements also fully considered or optimised for a better solution. So when these two key words are done with success , that means passive requirements when implemented and client sees the benefit in the market, you get good will and expertise badge and definitely will the confidence and loyality of the client. That it is a large success for supplier company,

secondly implmenting clients active requirements will command respect for client and will speak of quality , so in these both combination, clients get projects completed with a ADDED VALUE. that is definitely a success as definitely client wants to see success in market with the tools or strategy we make for them!

 Imagine a simple thing : Order your birthday cake in bakery and when do you want to write to bakery person a appreciation? Thats when you as a client has considered the project to be success and that will also the sucess for the bakery person. Otherwise its only another cake sold! He may or may not return!

That is success for a project!

Product selling in the open market is a completely different exercise, though a lot of importance is needed to be given there as well. But I think that any start up is considered a Project till such stage that the end product begins to be encased in its desired packaging!

Right from establishing Infrastructure, Acquiring raw material, State of the art equipment, Man Power, Production and any other relevant stages say "DELIVERED", till such time the Project remains incomplete!

Project is deemed as success only when

1. The Product/Service or result outcome of the project is put on use.

2. Expected ROI by the Customer is  achieved

3. Customer is beneficial and delighted

People often deem the success of a project by whether the client is satisfied or not with the project. But then to get more clarity of what went well and what can be improved for the next project, a project scorecard is a useful tool.

When any of the project ends, teams struggle to determine whether they were successful or not. Knowing how a project ended in terms of its deadline and budget tells only part of the story, even if a project team delivers a poor quality product on time and within budget, it still should not be seen as a success. And on the other hand, if quality is extremely important then the client may consider the project a success if the deliverables meet the quality criteria, even if the project was also late and over budget.

So in this regard a score card gives a clear idea whether the project was a success or not....it would be nice to see others view on this topic.....