People often confuse Project Success with Project Management Success.
The main difference between Project Success and Project Management Success is that success from a project perspective (Project Success) means that the project resulted in a product or a service that was viable and beneficial to the business. On the other hand, success from a Project Management perspective, means that the Project was on scope, on schedule, and on budget.
Defining project success criteria at the outset is essential for tracking the success of a project. The three success criteria for effective project management are cost, scope and time (the triple constraint). While the details might be different depending on the industry, company or objective of the project, success will live or die on these three factors.
Project Management Success does not necessarily mean Project Success. A Project can be finished on scope, on schedule, and on budget, but still deliver little or no value to the company/stakeholders. On the other hand, a Project can be finished with costs greatly exceeding the original budget, and years after the initial deadline, and yet deliver a great service/product that is beneficial to both the company and the stakeholders (whether internal or external).
To help organisations make an assessment of success a distinction must be made between project success and project management success. Project success can be measured as a level of effectiveness, where the project deliverables are measured in terms of benefits and stakeholder satisfaction, in other words the extent to which the project ultimate objectives are attained.
Project management success is defined by the level of efficiency the project achieved to reach the project objectives. Efficiency is related to how the project manages its limited resources to meet the goals while building good relationships with internal and external stakeholders. On the other side there are many ways a project can fail, a project can fail in meeting the budget, schedule and scope goals, but be a success in meeting the development objectives, likewise, a project can meet the budget, schedule and scope goals and fail in meeting the final development objectives
If you have an upcoming project and would like support with identifying project success metrics, get in touch.