Project Management Journal

Many researchers have suggested that meeting time, scope, and budget goals, sometimes called ‘project efficiency,’ is not the comprehensive measure of project success. Broader measures of success have been recommended; however, to date, nobody has determined empirically the relationship between efficiency and overall success or indeed shown whether efficiency is important at all to overall project success. Our aim in this article is to correct that omission. Through a survey of 1,386 projects we have shown that project efficiency correlates moderately strongly to overall project success (correlation of 0.6 and R² of 0.36). Efficiency is shown through analysis to be neither the only aspect of project success nor an aspect of project success that can be ignored.

Project success is a core concept of project management but its definition remains elusive. The project team must have a clear understanding of their project success objectives. This paper uses the logical framework method (LFM) as a foundation for defining project success. Using LFM, four levels of project objectives are identified: goal, purpose, output, and input. It is proposed that project success consists of two components—product success and project management success. Product success deals with goal and purpose; project management success deals with outputs and inputs.

Mục tiêu của chúng tôi là phát triển một bộ chỉ số hiệu suất hàng đầu để cho phép các nhà quản lý dự án lớn dự đoán trong quá trình thực hiện dự án rằng các bên liên quan sẽ đánh giá thành công như thế nào trong nhiều tháng hoặc thậm chí nhiều năm tới sau khi đầu ra hoạt động. Các dự án lớn có nhiều bên liên quan với các mục tiêu khác nhau đối với dự án, đầu ra và mục tiêu kinh doanh mà họ sẽ thực hiện. Đầu ra của một dự án lớn có thể kéo dài nhiều năm, hoặc thậm chí nhiều thập kỷ, và có tác động đến cuối cùng vượt ra ngoài hoạt động ngay lập tức của nó. Cách các bên liên quan khác nhau đánh giá thành công có thể thay đổi theo thời gian, do đó nhà quản lý dự án cần các chỉ số hiệu suất hàng đầu vượt ra ngoài ràng buộc ba chất lượng truyền thống để dự đoán xem các bên liên quan chính sẽ đánh giá thành công như thế nào trong nhiều tháng hoặc thậm chí nhiều năm tới. Trong bài báo này, chúng tôi phát triển một mô hình cho thành công dự án để xác định cách các bên liên quan đến dự án có thể đánh giá thành công trong nhiều tháng và năm sau khi một dự án hoàn thành. Chúng tôi xác định các yếu tố thành công hoặc thất bại sẽ tạo điều kiện hoặc làm giảm sự đạt được các tiêu chí thành công đó và một bộ chỉ số hiệu suất hàng đầu có thể dự đoán cách các bên liên quan sẽ đánh giá thành công trong suốt vòng đời của đầu ra dự án. Chúng tôi đã thực hiện một nghiên cứu phát triển thang đo với 152 quản lý dự án lớn và xác định hai thang đo yếu tố thành công của dự án và bảy thang đo sự hài lòng của bên liên quan mà có thể được nhà quản lý dự án sử dụng để dự đoán sự hài lòng của bên liên quan với các dự án, do đó, có thể được sử dụng bởi các nhà quản lý dự án lớn làm cơ sở điều khiển dự án.

User involvement in the process of developing information systems has long been known to be a critical component of eventual success. This study examines the importance of building an acceptable foundation for the interactions between the stakeholders in the project's outcome. A model is developed and empirically tested via a survey that explains the relationship between the foundation, the amount of user-related risk, and the project performance. The partnering activities used to build the foundation prove to be significant in the eventual process and should be considered as part of each development project.

Modern project management decisions are made in an environment often characterized by complexity, need for flexibility, and inclusion of a decision-maker's subjectivity. Typical project management, private or public, involves making decisions on the allocation of resources, project selection, choice of project managers, bid evaluation, vendor selection, and so forth, in an efficient and timely manner. In this paper, we illustrate how these kinds of decisions can be analyzed via a powerful research-based, multicriteria decision-making technique, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Using AHP, the decision problems are delineated into hierarchies in the form of goals, criteria, and alternatives for pairwise comparisons using Expert Choice® software. The judgments are further synthesized to provide ranking of the alternatives for the best choice.

This article addresses the research question: How is uncertainty affecting project portfolios managed in dynamic environments? The management of four portfolios was studied in two large multidivisional corporations. The portfolios were characterized by a high degree of uncertainty and many interdependencies between the projects. The results of this research indicate that the sources of change go beyond the two groups identified in The PMI Standard for Portfolio Management (Project Management Institute, 2006), that is, (a) Portfolio Performance and (b) Business Strategy Changes. The sensing mechanisms put in place by both companies primarily addressed uncertainty related to project scope.

This study surveyed 497 participants to determine the factors that affect project professionals’ acceptance of project management software and the perceived impact of software usage on their performance. The study finds that greater information quality and higher project complexity are the dominant factors explaining higher levels of system utilization, that greater system functionality and ease of use have a significant positive relationship with increased software usage, and that a strong positive relationship exists between higher usage of project management software and perceived project managers’ improved performance. Inconsistent with prior research, more training was not found to be associated with project management software usage. The study explains more than 40% of the variation in project management software acceptance and adds project management software usage to project success factors by empirically confirming for the first time that project management software enhances project professionals’ perceived performance and provides a positive impact on the results of their projects. The study provides practical implications for project professionals, their organizations, senior management, decision makers, software developers, and vendors. These findings support the call for further research that investigates the diffusion of information technologies in the project management field and their impact on project success and competitive position.

Projects are a means of implementing strategy; the relationship of project management to strategic implementation in an organization is explored. Some of the recent project management literature is examined and a case study from the education sector is used to consider how to effectively link project management to organizational strategic processes. Project management techniques have been used very successfully in a wide range of areas. They are routinely applied in IT developments, building, government, and education. Recent thinking has raised questions about how to more closely match the techniques to the nature of individual projects.

The nature of different types of projects is explored through consideration of projects involving high levels of change, and/or innovation. By their nature, the final outcomes of such projects are not clearly defined and their execution may require many iterations of development.

A means of categorizing projects within an organization is developed. This, along with a set process guidelines, will enable an organization's management to more effectively consider the implications of implementing strategic projects. Monitoring such projects can present problems in an organization when management accountability mechanisms demand results and rigid processes are imposed.

This article analyzes how leadership affects resistance to change in projects. Using Dulewicz and Higgs' (2005) leadership framework in the context of the Canadian Public Service, types of resistance and factors influencing them were listed, leading to the identification of competence areas for the project manager. It was found that an engaging leadership style, developed through proper training, effectively reduced resistance to change. Other factors, such as the inclusion of affected people in the decisions, as well as a formal project management methodology, were instrumental in reducing resistance. Finally, upper management support was identified to be a mandatory success factor.

Project success rates have improved, and much of the credit can be given to the knowledge, practices, and standards that have contributed to the professionalization of the field. Unfortunately, too many failures still occur. Because many of them can be traced to management and decision-making practices, it might be useful at this stage to explore a set of systematic biases to determine if understanding them can help diagnose and perhaps even prevent failures from occurring. This article begins with a framework identifying the influences on project outcomes, defines the systematic biases that may derail projects, summarizes eight project failures, uses the framework to diagnose those failures, and concludes by suggesting how organizational and project culture may contribute to these very common and natural biases.