Project Success Factors - PM 360 Consulting
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Project Success Factors

10 Nov Project Success Factors

Posted at 12:34h in Project management Simplified by
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Critical Success Factors

Projects are hectic by nature. In the sea of tasks, priorities, and deliverables, it can be easy to lose focus and forget what your critical success factors are for your project goals.

What Are the Most Important Critical Success Factors in Project Management?
According to the Project Management Institute and other researchers, the following factors affect project success the most:

Formally established project managers with necessary skills and authority
Clearly set and widely understood project goals
Competent and experienced project teams
Top management support.

Project Managers’ Effect on Project Success
You don’t have to be a trained project manager for your project to be successful.However, you need to have the necessary skills, such as communication, planning, and delegation.Make sure you develop a plan with responsibilities and deliverables before getting to work.

Identify scope and risks early on, and monitor changes as they occur.

(Shubhangi Pandey)

Definition of Project Success

A project can only be successful if the success criteria were defined from the start. When initiating  a project, it’s essential to define success across three levels:

  • Level 1: Project completion success:  this level details the criteria by which the process of delivering the project outputs is successful. This criteria addresses the four project constraints, scope, schedule, budget and quality. The criteria is limited to the duration of the project and success can be measured during the life of the project and as soon as the project is officially completed. This measures the efficiency of how the project used its resources to deliver the project outputs.
  • Level 2: Results success: this is about defining the criteria by which the product or service delivered is deemed successful (e.g. service is used by all beneficiaries in scope, students attending school, water systems operational, certified teachers, etc.). These criteria need to be measured once the product/service is implemented and over a defined period.
  • Level 3: Development success: this is about defining the criteria by which the product/service delivered brings value to the beneficiaries, and how it contributes to their well being (economic, health, social, etc).Examples include income increase by 50%, disease reduction by 25%, etc.

The worst type of failure occurs when the project fails to meet the development objectives. Organizations that are able to meet the criteria of success are characterized by the use and application of a consistent, repeatable and predictable methodology that supports the planning and implementation of development projects and make project management a key competency supported by an environment that nurtures learning.

(Rodolf0 Silers PMP)

Key Takeaways
• Project success focuses on long-term value delivery and the lasting impact of the deliverable, while project management success centers on meeting traditional constraints like time, budget, and scope specifications.

• Organizations often become preoccupied with project management success metrics, potentially losing sight of whether the project actually creates meaningful, sustainable value for stakeholders.

• Long-term risk identification and sustainability considerations are fundamental to achieving true project success, extending beyond immediate project completion.

• Efficiency (project management success) and effectiveness (project success) represent two distinct measurement approaches that should be balanced for optimal outcomes.

• Successful project management requires both tactical execution skills and strategic thinking to ensure projects deliver lasting business value and support organizational goals.

(Rich Maltzman)

Project Success Model

Project success and project failure are NOT absolutes. It may not be possible to be a little bit pregnant, but you can be a little bit successful.
Every project has multiple success criteria related to business results, product/service results, and project delivery results (cost, schedule, scope, and quality).
Some criteria are absolute, meaning they must be completed on or before the original planned date, and some are relative, meaning they must be completed by a date acceptable to the client.
Project success is determined by how many of your success criteria are satisfied, and how well.
So in order to define success and failure of your project you should;
1) Define all the criteria relevant to your project. 
2) Define how you will measure them.
3) Define when you will measure them.
(Henrico Dolfing)

When a project fails, it’s because of any number of issues. But, when it succeeds we consistently see the same core conditions in place.

Yes, analyzing what went wrong is important. But I’m always surprised how little time we spend reinforcing what works, especially when there’s solid research to back it up. If you want to know if your project is set up for success run through this checklist and see how many boxes you can confidently check:

None of this is easy. But investing in these conditions for success beats months analyzing what went wrong. It could be the difference a project that delivers value and one that becomes a cautionary tale. The reserach is clear – get these right and your project has a great shot.
Which of these needs you attention first???
(Bernard Agrest)
Best Practices – Ten Steps

PM360 Consulting project management solutions succeed because we follow a proven process – our proprietary Ten Steps® methodology.

There are certain best practices that are common to all successful projects and certain poor practices common to all failed projects. Our experience shows that projects are successful when the same nine things are closely observed – the project goal, the project plan (change control, proper estimates, duration and effort) the leader, the availability of people, the opportunity, the risk, the management style of the project manager, the way the project is tracked and reported.

 

(Padraig Friel www.pm360consulting.ie)

 

How Do You Define Project Success Criteria?

Success criteria refer to the standards stakeholders use to determine if the project meets their expectations. Project managers may examine these during the project lifecycle and after the project close. The criteria are somewhat focused on budget and schedule but also consider how stakeholders – leadership, employees, and customers – are affected by the result of your project. Here are some questions you can ask to define project success:

6 Examples of Project Success Criteria

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to defining success criteria, and project managers will be guided by the specific needs of their stakeholders. We asked Matt Burns, Project Manager at monday.com, how he ensure his projects hit the mark. He told us he always asks the following question to provide a framework to shape his project management:

“If I have a magic wand, and this goes perfectly for you and does exactly what you want in your heart and soul, what does that look like for you?”

Some common examples of project success criteria you might track to build your own framework include:

  1. Scope: The project manager will begin by defining the project’s scope and establishing what needs to happen to consider it a success. On the monday.com Work OS, you can define a baseline to set project scope, then make necessary adjustments along the way.
  2. Budget: No project manager wants their project to be a money drain. Establish a budget and compare it to actual expenses throughout the project’s lifecycle.
  3. Timeline: The timeline of the project should be included when defining success criteria, including meeting milestones and deadlines to achieve success. This is easy to accomplish on monday.com, where you can mark significant checkpoints to measure and share project progress.
  4. Business Goals: Consider customer goals, organizational goals, and project management team goals. A successful project will ensure these are all in alignment.
  5. Deliverables: Check that the project deliverables align with expectations and are satisfactory. For example, if your project goal is to produce a new app, the deliverable should be a fully functional, bug-free app that is intuitive and meets the customer’s needs.
  6. Risk management: The project manager should be able to identify risks early on and develop mitigation strategies. For example, on the monday.com Work OS, you can use real-time data to track, monitor, and mitigate any roadblocks throughout the project lifecycle.

(Zoe Averbuch)

Article written by Ridolfo Siles PMP PM4DEV Blog “Definition of Project Success”

www,pm4dev.com/blog

Article written by Rich Maltzman Earth PM 29 Septemberr 2025 “The Difference Between Project Success and Project Management Success”

https://corasystems.com/podcast/difference-between-project-success-project-management-success

Article written by Zoe Averbuch 27 March 2023 “A Guide To Defining Project Success Criteria”

www.monday.com/blog/a guide to defining project success criteria

Article written by Shubhangi Pandey 24 January 2022 “How To Identify Critical Success Factors in Project Management
”

www.projectcentral,com/blog

Article written by Henrico Dolfing “Project Success Model”

https://www.henricodolfing.com/p/the-project-success-model.html

Article written by Padraig Friel  MPM MBA MScPM CMC 23 May 2025 ” There are certain best practices that are common to all successful projects”.

Article written by Bernard Agrest . PMP .Prosci 22nd May on LinkedIn ” When a project fails, its becasue of any number of issues”. But, when it succeeds we consistently see the core conditions in place.