Project Success Principles

Five Immutable Principles of Project Success

Do we know what the project is supposed to produce, the recognizable deliverables, the measures of success for those deliverables, and most importantly, the units of measure of the success that are agreed to by the decision makers?

Do we have a plan and a schedule to execute that plan? The plan tells us what we are supposed to be doing? The schedule tells us when we should be doing this work. Both a Plan and a Schedule are needed.

Do we have enough resource to complete the project on time, on budget, and on specification? This means there must be a resource utilization plan. A resource loaded schedule is the best starting point.

Do we know the risks in the project and their Risk Handling responses? If not, the risks are still there and will turn into Issues and then you'll be late and over budget, and the outcome will probably not work.

Do we know that we are actually making progress? In traditional projects Earned Value is a good way to measure progress. 

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