Project Critical Success Factors

Micro Learning Unit

In addition to the project goals, it is important to identify the critical factors for its success, those without which the success of the project is questionable.

Since these elements are critical to the project’s success, they must be integrated into both the managerial and professional foci of the project.

Sometimes, certain elements are, in fact, the pivotal points of the project because they touch on the client’s concept of the very heart of the project. As such, they require full managerial attention.

The client often explains that everything is important (all the content of the project, fast, cheap and good), however, one must find out right from the start what is more important to the client in order to understand where to focus and where the client will be flexible. For example, if the completion date of the project is the most important to the client, its acceleration can be offered by allocating additional resources. When one or more of the project constraints is particularly important to the client, it should be identified as a critical factor for the success of the project.

There are some common elements often responsible for project success (critical success factors):

It is important to identify all the factors that are critical to the project success therefore it is best to involve professionals from different disciplines so that every aspect is taken into account. A project in which these factors are not identified, may end up on time, on budget and with all the content, but still miss another significant point for which the project – despite the technical compliance with the Golden Triangle, will not be considered successful.

For example, if we develop a great system, and complete it on time and on budget, but someone else steals our premiere and launches a similar system before us, it might obscure the success of our project. If we do not recognize the importance of being first to market as a critical success factor of our project, this point will not get the attention required to make decisions that will improve the chances of us being first in the market.