Defining and measuring project success can be difficult. By understanding project success criteria, your team can find and apply repeatable success. Learn how to determine success for your project and team, and the tools to measure it.
Determining whether or not a project was truly successful can be tricky. While delivering results on time and on budget are typical measures of success there are other important factors to consider as well.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through a step-by-step process for holistically measuring project success beyond basic metrics.
Why Measuring Project Success Matters
Before diving into the how, let’s first understand why properly measuring project success is important:
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It provides accountability and gives tangible results that stakeholders care about.
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Success metrics can guide project objectives, ensuring alignment with business goals.
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Tracking metrics helps identify issues and improvements for future projects.
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It demonstrates the ROI and business value delivered by projects.
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Celebrating success builds team morale, engagement, and productivity.
In short, measuring success keeps projects focused on what truly matters – realizing the intended goals and outcomes.
6 Steps to Measure Project Success
Follow these six key steps to effectively evaluate project success:
Step 1: Define Project Goals
Be clear on what the project aims to achieve. Some examples of goals include:
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Launch a new product or service
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Increase revenue or market share
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Improve customer satisfaction
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Reduce operational costs
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Hit an ROI target
Step 2: Assess Current Project Status
Before evaluating overall success, first assess where the project currently stands relative to the goals:
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What deliverables or results have been completed so far?
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Is the project on track timeline and budget wise?
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What major milestones remain?
This gives a realistic picture of the project status.
Step 3: Analyze Results Achieved
Dig into what tangible results the project has achieved already:
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New products or features released
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Revenue growth or cost savings realized
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Customer feedback or satisfaction scores
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Process efficiencies gained
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Uptake of deliverables by users
Step 4: Identify Project Risks
Determine any major risks that could derail or negatively impact the project:
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Budget overruns or delays
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Scope creep or feature creep
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Dependency failures
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Testing failures
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Market changes
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Poor user adoption
Step 5: Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Identify 2-3 key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned to the project goals to track ongoing success:
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Increased revenue or market share
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Reduced operational expenses
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Customer satisfaction scores
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User adoption or engagement
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Quality metrics or defect rates
Step 6: Measure KPIs Throughout Project
Continuously track the defined KPIs from project kickoff through completion:
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Establish KPI baselines before starting
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Set KPI targets to define success
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Monitor KPIs on dashboards in real-time
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Calculate ROI to justify the project
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Review KPI trends in comparison to targets
This allows for early identification of issues and mid-course corrections as needed.
Building a Project Success Measurement Framework
Beyond those six steps, establishing an overall framework helps ingrain success measurement into projects:
Define Standards of Success
Document what “success” means based on input from sponsors, stakeholders, and the project team. Get agreement early.
Pre-Define Metrics
Determine which KPIs, ROI calculations, and other metrics will gauge success.
Establish Measurement Tools
Select dashboards, reports, surveys, and other means to quantify and track success metrics.
Monitor Metrics Frequently
Don’t just measure at the end! Track progress at defined intervals throughout the project.
Review Metrics in Retrospectives
Analyze success measurement results during project retrospectives to identify improvements.
Building this formalized process and framework makes measuring success a natural part of your projects.
5 Core Metrics to Measure Project Success
While every project is unique, these five metrics are useful starting points for measuring success on most projects:
1. Timeline success: Was the project completed on schedule? Were all key milestones and deadlines met?
2. Budget success: Was the project completed within the approved budget? Was the cost reasonable for the value delivered?
3. Scope success: Were all components of the agreed upon scope completed as defined?
4. Quality success: Are stakeholders satisfied with the end products and results from the project?
5. Business success: Did the project achieve its business goals or purpose? e.g. ROI, new revenue, cost savings etc.
Assess these five metrics as a baseline for any project. Then add additional metrics aligned to the specific context and goals.
Presenting Project Success Measurement
Effectively presenting success measurement data and insights is key as well:
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Keep it simple: Focus on high-level metrics and KPIs accessible to sponsors and key stakeholders. Avoid overly detailed metrics.
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Visualize data: Use charts, graphs, and dashboards to visually communicate insights.
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Tell a story: Tie together metrics with a narrative showing project achievements.
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Be timely: Share results at milestone reviews and at project closure, when it has maximum impact.
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Celebrate wins: Recognize contributions and achievements of the team.
Presenting success measurement in this way makes it more impactful.
Common Challenges When Measuring Project Success
Here are some potential pitfalls when measuring success to watch out for:
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Unclear or competing definitions of project success
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Metrics not aligned to initial goals or objectives
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Only measuring completion metrics like time and budget
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Lack of baseline metrics to measure progress
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Success criteria set too low and easily achievable
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Metrics focused on activities rather than end outcomes
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Measuring too many metrics that cause confusion
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Delaying measurement until the end rather than throughout
Being cognizant of these challenges will help you avoid them.
Measuring the true success of projects involves more than just time, budget, and basic quality metrics. It requires a comprehensive framework that begins with clarifying goals, assessing results, and defining KPIs aligned to those goals.
Follow the step-by-step process outlined in this guide to implement success measurement practices on your projects:
- Clearly define project goals and objectives
- Assess current status
- Analyze tangible results achieved
- Identify potential risks
- Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Track KPIs throughout project duration
These best practices will provide the data-driven insights you need to not only measure project success, but also achieve it.
So stop relying solely on gut feel or intuition to determine project success. Leverage the approach above to objectively gauge success through metrics and KPIs. This will add greater accountability, visibility, and predictive insights around achieving the desired project outcomes.
Examples of Project Success
In their 2017 paper “Project Management Success Factors,” authors Dr. Mladen Radujkovic and Mariela Sjekavica provide a project management success breakdown to highlight three distinct categories of project success factors:
- Elements of Project Management Competencies: Elements include the technical, behavioral, and contextual competencies of the project manager and project team members. Competence is measured by knowledge of best practices and the ability to perform to expected standards within the project environment.
- Elements of Organization: Elements include the structure, culture, atmosphere, and organization competence. Organization is especially important for teams that manage more than one project at a time.
- Elements of Project Management Methodologies, Methods, Tools, and Techniques: Elements include methodologies, software, tools, decision-making techniques, risk assessment tools, and information communication technology support tools. A project manager should know which tools and methods will be best for each project.
As Radujkovic and Sjekavica write, “Theoretically, if you have a competent project manager, competent team, coordinated manager and team, adequate organizational structure, culture, atmosphere and competence, as well as high usage of project management methodologies, methods, tools, and techniques, your project should have highly successful project management, and enable project success.”
Examples of project success include the following:
- Execution of tasks and milestones
- On-time project completion
- On-budget project completion
- Positive impact on the future of firm
- Project team fulfillment with their completed work
- Quality deliverables are executed and completed to client’s satisfaction
You can learn more about project success factors in this article.
Step 2: Evaluate the Project Specifications
Did the project meet the expectations and goals? You can determine this by assessing whether or not all the deliverables are completed and agreements are met within the expected timeframe.
How to Measure Project Success – Project Management Training
How do project managers measure project success?
To measure the success of a project in terms of timeliness, project managers often use a metric known as schedule variance. This key performance indicator (KPI) compares the planned schedule with the actual schedule and helps determine if the project is on track or if there are delays that need to be addressed.
How do you measure success and progress?
To effectively measure success and progress, it’s essential to focus on the metrics that matter. These metrics vary depending on the organization, team, or project, but some common ones include project completion rate, budget utilization, and stakeholder satisfaction.
What determines a project’s success?
Completed deliverables can determine a project’s success. Planning: Establish a workflow, resources, and budget. The accuracy of this planning contributes to a project’s success. Execution: This phase monitors the budget, progression, and quality of work. The performance of these elements can measure a project’s success.
What are the 8 essential metrics to measure project success?
In this blog post, we will explore 8 essential metrics to measure project success. , such as scope, budget, schedule, stakeholder satisfaction, team performance, risk management, benefits realization and lessons learned.
