10 Key Factors that make a Project Successful
Let’s begin with a quick description of what project success actually is before we get to the success factors. The answers seem simple at first glance: a project is deemed good if the purpose of the project is achieved. That implies you’ve set concrete objectives. But actually it is not enough to meet your project objectives to consider a project to be good. You may achieve your project objectives but fail to achieve several other goals related to the project’s completion.
Factors in Success
In project management, there are lots of studies on success factors. Results vary depending on the participants, the size of the study, and the industry. Nevertheless, some recurring factors are evident that seem to play a crucial role, regardless of the context of a project.
Let’s have a look at such factors:
1. Experienced Project Managers & Professional Project Team Leaders
You can understand the theory and methods of project management, but experience is one of the key factors of success in the end. The more experienced a project manager, the more likely he/she will be able to overcome the daily project challenges. To avoid misunderstandings, keep clear roles and responsibilities in mind. Successful project managers are known not only by technical knowledge but also by leadership.
Ensure that the team members have the necessary skills to deliver the results required and bring a positive attitude to the project. Also, as a whole, the team must function. So it is essential to build a team that is motivated to work towards a common goal together.
2. Methodic Approach
For success, the choice of a suitable methodology for project management is crucial. To ensure that your process is clear, reliable, and efficient, follow the trends and techniques of the framework you have chosen. All stakeholders should understand and agree on investing time to define a clear project objective.
3. Proper Planning
Many project managers hurry to the project execution stage and do not take sufficient time for sound planning. Don’t make a mistake here. Invest sufficient time and resources in thorough scheduling.
4. Adhere to the Best Practices
The wheel does not need to be reinvented. Project management itself is a challenge. Use frameworks and best practices wherever possible. Instead of constructing everything from the ground up, draw from the experience of past successes and adapt proven strategies to your individual case. This enables you to concentrate your resources on your project’s really distinctive elements that will make all the difference.
5. Monitoring & Control
Check your progress and regularly evaluate the results. To quickly understand if the project is on track, define key performance indicators (KPI), and use reports. You will recognize early on when things go sideways and can take countermeasures before greater harm is done.
6. Use a Professional Software
The quality of your chosen tools has a direct effect on the quality of your management. The role of project management software is commonly underestimated. Professional and intuitive software minimizes the risk of errors and miscalculations, provides the best possible overview of all relevant KPIs, and reliably displays significant data on all necessary devices. The software promotes safe and easy team collaboration and is the basis for providing access to the information needed by each team member.
Invest in a professional and specific tool instead of working with Excel or other spreadsheet programs not created for project management needs. It will simplify your job, and it will affect the success of your project.
7. Effective Communication
With proper communication, many undesirable developments in projects could be prevented or at least discovered earlier. Ensure that formal communication processes (meetings, documentation), as well as informal processes, are implemented and used. Communication between members of the team plays an important role. Offer opportunities for your employees to come together outside the official meetings, for example, in your offices in a coffee corner or a chat tool.
8. Work with Commited People
Any strategy and plan have the ability to fully fall apart without the right team in place. As a result, the core project staff, specialist resources, manufacturers, and all stakeholders should be part of the team dynamic. All those involved must be committed to the group, share similar project visions and strive to achieve overall success.
It is important to assign the right individuals to each aspect of the project and make sure they work together well. In addition, to have the most successful result, the entire team should be fully informed and involved, which means that communication has to be on par.
9. Careful Management of Risks
Project managers know that planned things rarely go off. It is essential to produce a risk log with an action plan for the project’s risks during the planning process. Ensure that your risk log is known by all key stakeholders and know where they can find it. If something happens, with the management plan that has already been set up, the team can quickly resolve the problem. When facing project risks, this will give the team confidence and help the customers feel comfortable with the project’s progress.
10. Strong Closure of Project
If there is no strong closure for a project, it can continue to consume resources. The project team must be firm and agree with the client that it has met all critical success factors. It is necessary to agree and sign off on confirmation of the project delivery, testing, and release. Satisfaction surveys are good forms of documentation for future reference to be logged and filed and valuable information for future use.
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The world is changing fast, but when it comes to managing successful projects, many things stay tried and true. Ultimately, you want to foster a powerhouse project team that’s focused on objectives and responsive to new information. Here are eight key factors that can help make a project successful.
Clear Project Goals and Objectives
To achieve success, it has to be clear what the project success criteria are. Before starting, help your team understand what you want to achieve — not just for your project but also for your client’s business or community .
Align with relevant stakeholders on your key performance indicators (KPIs), and if possible, keep them visible. As you arrive at critical decision points, go back to these goals to determine the best courses of action.
Read more: How to Write SMART Project Management Goals
Diligent Research and Data Gathering
One of the most important project success factors is the discovery phase , when project managers work closely with clients to gain more insight into their problems, industry, past initiatives, capabilities, and more. This will equip you with information to formulate better strategies and anticipate possible hurdles.
When projects start, it’s tempting to jump the gun and get to work. It’s exciting while you’re brimming with ideas. Plus, a quick and straightforward schedule can impress stakeholders.
However, it’s important to remember that the benefits of forgoing this critical stage are only temporary, and will quickly be eclipsed by their downsides. If you want to increase your chances of success, don’t skip the discovery phase!
Grounded Estimates and Plans
Unrealistic estimates and lofty promises are the most common ways project teams set themselves up for project failure . It can be tempting to give small, aggressive estimates because they seem to define the team members’ competence. But if you want to increase your project’s chance of success, you and your team may have to learn to set this ego aside or work around it.
Consider using good planning methods like planning poker , where discussions are encouraged around estimates. Look into your best, worst, and most realistic scenarios. Add padding and contingencies as needed. Conduct project planning according to how things are, not how you want things to be.
Optimized Workflow and Systems
Systems and workflows are set processes for your team to follow when implementing your project plans. They’re efficient ways to set expectations and manage communication. They also minimize confusion, which can be massively beneficial during the busiest phases.
Take the time to evaluate your workflow and system after critical phases of your project to spot inefficiencies. Check in with your team and stakeholders to identify areas you can automate and optimize project management strategies.
Barring extreme situations, it’s not advisable to do major overhauls in the middle of a project. Still, keep an eye on tweaks that can offer tremendous results.
Read more: Workflow Management Software and Tools: 2023 Guide
Real-Time Progress and Resource Tracking
Once you start executing project tasks, you’ll have a natural tendency to focus only on what’s at hand. But as the project manager, it’s your responsibility to keep your goals and project objectives in view. Without this presence of mind, you risk wasting resources and missing deadlines.
Nowadays, project management software is equipped with features for real-time task tracking and reporting, productivity monitoring, budget management and cost tracking, and more. Maximizing these features can enable you and your team to spot bottlenecks, foresee issues and delays, and stay in touch with your big objectives as you make incremental project progress.
Scope, Change, and Priority Management
With the rise of information overload , it can be tempting for teams and stakeholders to implement every new idea and iterate after every exciting insight. While project management methodologies such as Agile Scrum exist to welcome new findings and iterations, these iterations should still come with thorough discernment and evaluation.
Finding the balance between openness to new ideas and firmness against scope creep is critical for project managers. While change can be good, new changes in scope have to be evaluated against the project’s objectives and the availability of resources. Keep priorities clear to help your team manage their efforts — so they don’t go to waste.
Healthy Team Culture
If you’ve ever wondered how self-managing teams exist, then you’ve already stumbled upon the importance of healthy team culture.
A team’s culture defines what they consider normal and unusual. This influences their decisions and actions, regardless of whether they’re being supervised by management. Safety, empowerment, and accountability create a breeding ground for collaboration, constructive feedback, problem-solving, initiative, and grit.
Successfully maintaining this can help your team perform optimally, even when they’re left to their own devices.
Read more: Identifying & Managing Toxic Workplace Behaviors
Documentation and Knowledge Management
Another critical success factor in project management is constant improvement. In order for actions and decisions to be reviewed, they have to first be properly documented. Documentation can feel like an extra administrative task for project managers. But done right, it has many benefits.
Proper documentation and knowledge management can help you trace your team’s thought process. You can use this to communicate better with stakeholders, onboard new team members, and conduct object evaluations at the end of your project. Leveraging your previous findings in future projects is also made possible when these are adequately recorded.
Finally, documenting your project success can increase your team’s credibility and help you acquire more clients moving forward.
Check out these Project Management Courses from TechRepublic Academy!
A Solid Foundation Is Key to Project Success
The key to building an agile and productive team is providing a solid foundation with sound systems and values. This firm grounding in project management will empower project team members to explore new ideas, take risks, and ultimately succeed and innovate.
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All Highly Successful Projects Have These 8 Things in Common
Project success can be defined as reaching project objectives within budget and on time, and to the satisfaction of the stakeholders.
How hard can it really be?
According to research, only 2.5% of companies are able to successfully complete 100% of their projects. This means, nearly 98% of companies fail to produce planned deliverable within budget and on time and satisfy their stakeholders.
While a project is made up of several elements, such as a well-defined goal, resources, budget etc., effective implementation of them through a proper project management strategy is the key to project success. Project management is not only critical to organizational success but it is also a decisive factor in business performance.
Hire an Experienced Project Manager
A role of a project manager is to successfully plan, organize, execute, monitor and complete a project. While a project manager must have the necessary technical and soft skills to perform these responsibilities, she should also interact well with the team or teams she is managing.
If she is not engaged, committed, agile and trusted by her team, she will have a hard time leading her team towards project success.
Maintain Effective Communication
Effective communication, which is essential to increase workplace productivity , is vital throughout any project. The absence of proper communication would lead to chaos – some would fail to complete their tasks on time while some others would frequently make errors with no proper guidance.
To avoid this, effective communication should be established through communication and collaboration software or through more conventional methods such as project review meetings.
Set Attainable and Measurable Goals
Project goals set the path of a project. Every decision made and every action taken during a project should be to accomplish this goal that should be defined during the initial stage of the project. While a project goal should always align with the strategic objectives of the company and the expectations of the stakeholders, it needs to be one that can be measured and achieved in reality.
Create A Realistic Budget
A project budget must cover all necessary expenses of a project. While it should be realistic, it should also be able to cover the extra expenses the organization may have to bear due to threats that may occur unexpectedly.
Allocate Resources to Meet Project Requirements
A project is dependent on its resources. Resources include both human resources and non-human resources like tools, conference rooms, laptops etc. These resources should be allocated properly in order to ensure that each objective can be reached in an efficient manner.
Carry Out Frequent Risk Management Practices
During the lifetime of a project, risks can occur at any time. Being prepared to face these obstacles – both financially and with manpower – is essential for the success of a project. Make sure to carry out frequent risk management practices before every new step.
Implement Successful Talent Management
Talent management is necessary for a company to attract and retain skilled employees in the industry and is a key reason why projects succeed. While the skills of the project team largely decide the fate of a project, it is necessary to have an army of skilled and experienced human resources to deploy during any new project.
Take Stakeholder Satisfaction into Serious Consideration
20% of project success is decided by the satisfaction of the stakeholders, who could be your clients, government, consultants, subcontractors etc. This is why it is important to identify the stakeholders and their expectations during the initial stage of the project. By working their expectations into the project goals, you can ensure complete project success.
Any More Reasons Why Projects Succeed?
With the successful integration of the above project management tips to your project management strategy, you can make sure that you improve your chances at 100% project success. If you have additional reasons why you think projects succeed, do mention them in the comments below.
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Project Management Essay
- To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
- As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
- As a template for you assignment
Why study project management? This essay gives an answer to the question. It explains the importance and benefits of planning as a business process and a research topic. Write an A+ essay on product management with this example!
Introduction
Project management phases.
- Strategic Management
Project management is a discipline of planning, controlling, securing and organizing resources to attain specific objectives. A project can be perceived as an impermanent endeavour with a defined starting and end, undertaken to convene unique objectives and goals, normally to bring about useful change.
The impermanent nature of projects differs from business to business. In some cases it can be permanent, or semi permanent, repetitive functional actions to produce services or products. “A project is a unique endeavour to produce a set of deliverables within clearly specified time, cost and quality constraints” (Westland 2).
All projects can be thought of as a series of phases that have specific beginnings and defined endpoints. Project management life cycle has mostly four phases namely project initiation, project planning, project execution and project closure. All of the phases of the project life cycle have lot of activities to play. These are described in the following segment.
Project Initiation:
This is the initial phase of the project life cycle, which, in turn, has a group of activities which are to be carried out prior to the planning stage. In this phase, the scope and purpose for initiating it and the solution to be found are described.
Project Planning:
In the project planning step, all the project management planning tasks, which are required to complete the project on time and within budget are explained.
Project Execution:
The next phase of project life cycle is project execution. In this phase, the physical deliverables are presented for the consumer. It is the most significant phase in the project life cycle and it utilizes a set of energy and resources.
Project Closure:
Project closure is the final phase of the project life cycle, which properly concludes the project and reports the whole achievement in terms of pre-defined objectives.
The job of the Project Manager is to prepare, execute and decide projects according to the given parameters and within financial plan. This includes obtaining resources and managing the plans of group and third-party consultants so as to distribute projects according to the plan.
The Project Manager will also describe the project’s aim and manage quality control all through its life cycle. McGraw-Hill and Irwin, in their book, “Project Management: The Managerial Process,” claim that “Project Management strikes a balance between the technical and human aspects of managing projects. It is suitable for a course in project management and for professionals who seek a project management handbook” (Gray & Larson).
The Role of Strategic Management in a Project
Strategic Management method contains the process of selecting, directing and calculating project outcomes to ensure best value for a business. Every project undertaken by a business has to meet certain criteria set up by the company’s management. This is intended to ensure alignment with the planned vision of the business.
The four important Strategic Management Processes are: ensure that every project is strategically associated, make a Project Management centred culture, apply Strategic Project Management best practices and to evolve a strategic project measurement scheme.
Project Scope Management, on the other hand, contains the procedures necessary to ensure that the project encompasses all the work required, but only the works necessary to complete the project effectively. Managing the project scope mainly concerns with controlling and defining what is and is not contained in the project.
Project management must be viewed as a technique that enables the organisations to successfully execute selected projects efficiently and effectively. However, the use of this technique alone does not automatically guarantee project achievement.
Gray, Clifford F. & Larson, Erik W. Project Management . McGraw-Hill Publishing Limited. 2000. Web.
Westland, Jason. The Project Management Life Cycle: A Complete Step-by-Step Methodology for Initiating, Planning, Executing & Closing a Project Successfully . Kogan Page Limited. 2006. Web.
Project Management Essay FAQ
- Why is project management important? Project management aims to plan and lead a project to successfully complete it. It involves several phases, each of which brings direction to a project, be it in the sphere of business, charity, or art.
- Why study project management? Project management is an exciting job that might lead to a fulfilling career in many spheres. Project management skills that imply the ability to successfully lead a project from its beginning to the conclusion, are always in demand in any company.
- What is scope in project management? Project scope means a common understanding between the project stakeholders about its boundaries, goals, and essential milestones. It is crucial to define the project scope and its key elements before you start working.
- What is crashing in project management? Crashing is a method in project management used to speed up the project’s timeline without changing its overall scope. Project crashing implies adding more resources to reach the highest possible efficiency level.
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"Project Management Essay." IvyPanda , 31 Oct. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/project-management-4/.
IvyPanda . (2018) 'Project Management Essay'. 31 October.
IvyPanda . 2018. "Project Management Essay." October 31, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/project-management-4/.
1. IvyPanda . "Project Management Essay." October 31, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/project-management-4/.
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IvyPanda . "Project Management Essay." October 31, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/project-management-4/.
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