Brightmoon Consulting & Training

Typical project success criteria mentioned previously are on-time, on-budget and within scope.

This article is to shed some light on 10 Critical Success Factors (CSF), which have empirically proven in contributing directly and indirectly to success criteria above. However, without proper measurement, it would be challenging to have these CSF serve as a reputable benchmark.


The History
Two renowned experts (Pinto & Slevin) conducted this research over 400 projects across industries. They came out a diagnostic instrument to measure these 10 CSF - Project Implementation Profile (PIP). This is 360-degree approach to solicit feedback from all project stakeholders. Over two decades, it has been proven on its practicality and usefulness.

The Wake-up Call
There was on product development project in one multinational organization. Everyone was excited about the project, including the technology partner. However, something does not feel so right, and no-one is able to tell the exact.

After PIP was conducted, the shocking and ugly truth revealed itself. At the quick glance on its CSF rating (see figure below), this project is at the brink of extinction. They have been experiencing unnecessary fire fighting, chasing unreasonable deadlines and stressed working atmosphere.

The Priority of Remedial Actions
With the insights of CSF rating, there is always a chance to salvage the project.

1. Top priority is given to those CSF rating below 50
2. Second priority is given to those CSF rating below 80

Usage of PIP

1. Identify early indicators of project failure
2. Objectively benchmark across project performance
3. Facilitate in strategically and tactically thinking in entire project lifecycle

Concluding Remark
The success of adopting PIP in entire organization requires openness and higher project management maturity. Without that, PIP may be wrongly used as a political weapon. An independent third party could be invited in conducting PIP to ensure all project stakeholders are comfortable in voicing their honest and brutal feedback - anonymously. This third party will compile all feedback into one CSF rating (as seen in figure above).

Towards year-end, all successful individuals/ organizations will have a reflection on how they performed in 2013. Subsequently, they can plan how to increase/ elevate their success to new height in 2014.

Back to project management, the usual success statements are on-time, on-budget and within scope. These three are often used because they are easy to measure. And, this is how a project be profitable.

On the flip side of this success definition:-

1. Can a project deemed as a failure despite it met three criteria above? 
2. Can a project gauged as a success when it burst the time, budget and scope? 

These two questions are highly debatable. Nevertheless, the answers are absolute when we take into consideration of the behavioral aspects.


Critical Success Factors outlined by Pinto & Slevin provides holistic overview on project success.

1. Project Mission - Initial clearly defined goals and general directions.
2. Top Management Support - Willingness of top management to provide the necessary resources and authority/ power for project success.
3. Project Schedule/ Plan - A detailed specification of the individual actions steps for project implementation.
4. Client Consultation - Communication, consultation, and active listening to al impacted parties.
5. Personnel - Recruitment, selection, and training of the necessary personnel for the project team.
6. Technical Tasks - Availability of the required technology and expertise to accomplish the specific technical action steps.
7. Client Acceptance - The act of "selling" the final project to its ultimate intended users.
8. Monitoring and Feedback - Timely provision of comprehensive control information at each stage in the implementation process.
9. Communication - The provision of an appropriate network and necessary data to all key actors in the project implementation.
10. Troubleshooting - Ability to handle unexpected crises and deviations from plan.
    

All these factors are good on paper. Without proper quantification, they serve no purpose in project benchmarking. Next article we will share a way to translate qualitative inputs into numbers.

Till then, have fun reflecting now.