The Definition of Success

Summary

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Financial measures are important, but they cannot be the only gauge of success. Response to stakeholder needs is essential, and these stakeholders typically include customers, shareholders, business partners, employees and the community. Maintaining current capabilities while improving capacity to respond to change constitutes a delicate but necessary balance. Regulatory and legal impacts have become an element of concern since the recent financial scandals that led to the adoption of Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. However, organizations that seek sustainable results should evaluate opportunities as well as risks. Benefits realization requires the introduction of program management processes that go beyond project deliverables to measure the operational value of project outputs. Finally, project success, when measured for selection purposes at the portfolio level, should not only take into account contribution to benefits, but also achievability. Achievability measures the capability to realize the project in terms of resources, competencies and complexity within the required parameters. Only a combined benefits-achievability measure will enable executives to make the right investment decisions.

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The Definition of Success

Over the years, I've helped many organizations define project success, either to identify project selection criteria or to secure resources for projects. This experience has shown me that...

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