How to Measure the Success of a Project

The termproject successrefers to the specific criterion established by the client and the project team before the project begins. Teams use these specifications, milestones, and deliverables to evaluate project success after project close.

It's important to measure the success of a project so the project team can track progress and identify any process improvements. Measuring project success provides valuable insight into customer and team satisfaction, aids in continuous improvement, and supports future decisions.

Hassan Osman, Project Management Office Director at Cisco and author of the blogThe Couch Manager, states, “Measuring project success is important because that's how you determine how effective a project truly is. The success factors are usually dependent on the initial goals of the project, which include objective and subjective metrics.”

You can measure the success of a project by looking at each phase of the project lifecycle, from initiation to planning, execution, and closure:

• Initiation:This phase identifies the scope and deliverables of the project. Completed deliverables can determine a project's success.
• Planning:Establish a workflow, resources, and budget. The accuracy of this planning contributes to a project's success.
• Execution:This phase monitors the budget, progression, and quality of work. The performance of these elements can measure a project's success.
• Closure:This phase analyzes the completion of milestones and deliverables, which directly impact the success of a project.

You can measure the success of a project by reviewing project scope, evaluating project specifications, analyzing the project budget, and reviewing client and internal satisfaction.

These steps are described below.

Project success criteria encompass the overall project management and project deliverables. It's important to document project success criteria to ensure that the expected cost, scope, and time are on track to meet expectations. Criteria documentation can take the form of budgets, milestones, and timelines.

To learn more abouthow to determine project success criteria, read our comprehensive guide.

In their 2017 paper “Project Management Success Factors,” authors Dr. Mladen Radujkovic and Mariela Sjekavica provide a project management success breakdown to highlight three distinct categories of project success factors:

1. Elements of Project Management Competencies:元素包括技术、行为和有限公司ntextual competencies of the project manager and project team members. Competence is measured by knowledge of best practices and the ability to perform to expected standards within the project environment.
2. Elements of Organization:Elements include the structure, culture, atmosphere, and organization competence. Organization is especially important for teams that manage more than one project at a time.
3. Elements of Project Management Methodologies, Methods, Tools, and Techniques:Elements include methodologies, software, tools, decision-making techniques, risk assessment tools, and information communication technology support tools. A project manager should know which tools and methods will be best for each project.

As Radujkovic and Sjekavica write, “Theoretically, if you have a competent project manager, competent team, coordinated manager and team, adequate organizational structure, culture, atmosphere and competence, as well as high usage of project management methodologies, methods, tools, and techniques, your project should have highly successful project management, and enable project success.”

Examples of project success include the following:

• Execution of tasks and milestones
• On-time project completion
• On-budget project completion
• Positive impact on the future of firm
• Project team fulfillment with their completed work
• Quality deliverables are executed and completed to client’s satisfaction

You can learn more about project success factors in this article.

A remote team functions nearly the same as a non-remote team, but they may have additional ways to measure a project’s success. For instance, a remote team can look at how well their project team navigates communication and coordination despite spanning different time zones and cultural differences.

Read our article aboutremote team communication strategiesto learn more.

As Osman notes, “For the most part, working on a project with a remote team doesn't necessarily affect your project success metrics if you're targeting a measurable end result. That's because with remote work, the main difference is inhowandwherethe work gets done, as opposed towhatgets done. Having said that, one thing that could differ between remote teams and co-located teams are the subjective measures of collaboration, communication, and team dynamics. With co-located teams, those measures tend to be a bit higher due to improved team cohesion and intimacy, which could result in a better overall project outcome. Nevertheless, the effect of that is highly contextual and dependent on the type of team that you work with.”

You can learn more aboutremote collaboration toolsin this comprehensive guide.

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