Project success – that’s one thing every project manager strives to attain. After all, it’s their end goal. Yet, project managers know how challenging it is to achieve it. This may make you wonder: “What makes a project ‘successful’ in the first place?” Not to worry, in this article you’ll discover the secret to project success, as well as how top managers attain it.
What is Project Success?
Project success refers to the state of having completed a project on time, within the allocated budget, and all intended goals achieved.
A project is only “successful” when it meets these three major criteria. Let’s consider these criteria to see why they are crucial to a project’s success. To start, take time.
➔ Time:
Imagine you’re building a house. What would happen if the project is constantly delayed? Well, for one, it may lead to additional costs and frustrations. And surely, a building that’s rushed won’t be as strong as it should be.
A project is successful when completed on time. By that, we mean the project should be executed effectively without going overtime and ruining your client’s expectations.
➔ Budget:
This is clear. Successful projects stay within the budget allocated for completing them. As a project manager, it’s your job to ensure you’re not spending more than you’re supposed to.
➔ Goals:
What if a project is on time and sticks to its budget but fails to meet the intended goals? Of course, you can’t call that successful. Not only will your clients be unhappy, but it may also ruin your firm’s reputation.
So, while you’re paying close attention to the project’s time and budget, you have to regularly check if it’s also meeting the goals at each stage of the project. That’s your job as a project manager. Now, that is no doubt a lot of work. You might wonder if it’s possible to truly achieve project success.
Difficult as it might seem, it’s not impossible. Several project managers have achieved this countless times already. What helps? Here are some pro tips you should keep in mind.
How to Achieve Project Success
1. Know Your Team
Once again, it’s the project manager’s job to ensure the project meets its schedule and goals and falls within the budget. One reason why this may prove challenging is because the project manager never works alone. He has to regularly communicate with team members, assign roles, and request feedback.
Hence, a project manager needs to understand the strengths and weaknesses of his team. Through that, he’ll be more effective at assigning tasks and ultimately reaching the project goals.
2. Be Flexible
When it comes to a project, several factors are uncertain. Factors such as resource availability, stakeholder expectations, and supply issues may threaten the success of a project. It may lead to project delay or even project failure. As a project manager, you need to be ready to adapt to any situation the project finds itself. To do that, you should always create a backup plan.
3. Understand Your Project
Of course, to achieve project success, you need to fully understand your project. After all, you can’t build a site if you have no idea what it is for. But what does it mean to understand a project? It’s as it sounds – to know what every aspect of the project involves and what it’s aimed at.
You need to know what a project will require at each stage. Also, you need to understand the relationship between each task and what they add to the overall project. Finally, you have to know how the project’s outcome will help the client and your firm.
Wrapping Up
Project success may seem difficult to attain at first glance. However, that’s far from the case. With the right steps, you can complete several projects. And it all begins with understanding what project success even stands for.
As seen in this article, a project’s success is judged by its ability to meet the following criteria: time, budget, and goals. To complete a project on time, within budget, and reach the intended goals, you have to understand what the project is all about. That includes the goals, tasks, and results. And by doing so, you’ll be taking the first step to attaining project success.
