You will deliver your final delivery to your customers at some point. Will they be satisfied? How can you be certain? What about the other stakeholders? You must consider all aspects of a project in order to complete it successfully. They are not all about the project. Some add quality to the list. However, I believe we should never compromise quality. It is not a satisfying outcome. The following five key components are essential to project success. Every project can deliver more value.
How should you treat your project?
Your project is usually not the most important in an organisation. It is only one of many. It does not determine the destiny of an organisation.
It may be the most important opportunity in your career. You must balance your personal needs with the strategic goals for your company.
This means that success in a project has many components. Some of them are related both to the organisation as a whole and to specific projects.
“Constraints in scope, time, and costs don’t define project success to a full degree.” – Dmitriy Nishhebetskiy
1: Project Objectives
Imagine you have created a product, service, or integrated new processes in your company. All was completed within the budget and on time. All requirements were met. But, nobody wants to use your product.
Is it a success? I don’t think so.
It may seem like it is not your responsibility. It is up to the Product Manager, customers, or sponsor to think about it. It’s up to you to do what they ask. This sounds like a ridiculous excuse.
I believe that a proactive project manager is the best.
You must ensure that all stakeholders are satisfied at the end. This means you must explain the importance and consequences of clearly defined success criteria. You must also help them to create them.
Project objectives, on the other hand, have an added benefit. They allow you to analyze the feasibility of the project as well as the expectations of stakeholders.
2: Expectations of Stakeholders
Major stakeholders have very clear expectations. They want the results they have requested. They want it to feel that way.
But what about other influential stakeholders?
These are some examples:
The director of the department wants to hire your best employees to interview candidates. You don’t have the time or resources to spare for them. Even if the client is happy, the director is still unhappy.
Each functional manager has his or her own tasks. He needs to retain a competent specialist in the functional area to complete the work. Then you ask for all the resources necessary to staff your project. He was left with a lot of unfinished work. The company is left with an outdated task tracker that has been in use for several months.
What about a program manager who doesn’t want to finish your project too soon? It may result in a lower budget for next quarter.
Two technical experts are pushing for different solutions to your project. You may not know that one of them is pursuing personal goals. If the stakeholder’s goals are aligned with the project objectives you can get a supportive and engaged stakeholder.
A team member hopes to be promoted after the project is over. You know her expectations. She does her best. You will be so disappointed if she doesn’t like your review.
Project success is a matter of managing and satisfying stakeholders expectations. In my previous post, I share valuable insights on how to influence stakeholders.
3: Team’s Wellbeing
Can you say a project was successful if everything was done on time and within budget, but your team is exhausted or demotivated? Half of them leave the organisation after the project is over.
It is your responsibility to keep the team healthy.