Define Project Success

A project can only be successful if the success criteria were defined upfront (and I have seen many cases of projects that skip that part..). When starting on a project, it's essential to work actively with the organization that owns the project to define success across three tiers:

• Tier 1: Project completion success: this is about defining the criteria by which the process of delivering the project is successful. Essentially this addresses the classic "are we on time, budget, on scope, quality?" (adapted to whichever PM method you might be using). It is limited to the duration of the project and success can be measured as soon as the project is officially completed (with intermediary measures being taken of course as part of project control processes).
• Tier 2: Product/service success: this is about defining the criteria by which the product or service delivered is deemed successful (e.g. system is used by all users in scope, uptime is 99.99%, customer satisfaction has increased by 25%, etc.). These criteria need to be measured once the product/service is implemented and over a defined period of time.
• Tier 3: Business success: this is about defining the criteria by which the product/service delivered brings value to the overall organisation, and how it contributes financially and/or strategically to the business. For examples: financial value contribution (increased turnover, profit, etc.), competitive advantage (eg. x points marketshare won), etc.
  => Overall success: As per the examples mentionned in your question, you can be successful on one tier but not others. Ultimately I think tier 1 matters little if tiers 2 and 3 are not met, and the overall success needs to be defined and agreed as part of this exercise.

When it comes to accountabilities for success, they should be assigned according to tier:

• 1 - Project completion success: PM (and project team).
• 2 - Product/service success: Product/Service Owner.
• 3 - Business success: Project Sponsor.

The process of "success definition" should also cover how the different criteria will be measured (targets, measurements, time, etc.).

When it comes to these five success criteria, the survey found:

Scope: 87.3 percent said that meeting the actual needs of stakeholders is more important than building the system to specification.

Quality: 87.3 percent said that delivering high quality is more important than delivering on time and on budget.

Money: 79.6 percent said that providing the best return on investment (ROI) is more important than delivering a system under budget.

Staff: 75.8 percent said that having a healthy, both mentally and physically, workplace is more important than delivering on time and on budget.

Schedule: 61.3 percent of respondents said that it is more important to deliver a system when it is ready to be shipped than to deliver it on time.