How do we define project success or failure? What criteria should organisations use to identify project success or failure? Each individual or group of people who are involved in a project interpret their project's success/failure in the context of their own way of understanding based on their needs and expectations.

One typical example is the Millennium Dome in London. Although the project was completed on time and on budget, the project was deemed a failure as it did not deliver the awe and glamour that it was supposed to generate. On one hand, this example clearly tells us that project quality requires both conformance to the specifications and fitness for use, but on the other hand, project success requires a combination of product success (service, result, or outcome) and project management success.

Another example is the Sydney Opera House. The project went 16 times over budget and took 4 times as long to complete as it was originally planned, but the project was a big success for the people involved. The final impact of the completed project was so big that no one remembers the project management failure. While a project may go over budget and schedule (and deemed a failure in terms of project management), its success may be measured by the response to the actual use of the project over time.

Bear in mind, criteria are not the same as factors. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a criterion is defined as "a standard by which you judge, decide about, or deal with something" whereas a factor is described as "a fact or situation that influences the result of something". In other words, factors can lead to a series of events that ultimately meet the overall success criteria of the project, so they should not be used as synonymous terms.

Work to do :-

You are required to identify a real-world case: a successful project, then explain why the project is successful based on the criteria you identified (from the literature, either journal or conference papers). The document should include the following information:

Company background and the project that you have selected (about two hundred words) Identification (from the literature, either journal or conference papers), description and justification of the success criteria you think appropriate for your selected project (about four hundred words) Critical analysis of the case based on the criteria chosen (about six hundred words) Appropriate conclusions (about two hundred words) Provision of suggestions or recommendations in the event that the project should be re-run in the future (about two hundred words)