How to Measure Project Success
Before a project kicks off, the task force holds a strategy meeting and sets goals and objectives that inform their activities. Project success is achieved when the expectations of stakeholders are met. The worst that can happen is project failure, as the business could risk its reputation or lose revenue.
While factors such as proper planning and good communication are essential for the success of a project. Tracking the progress of the tasks with tools like a calendar template and measuring the project’s success is critical. Here are ways you can measure success.
- Schedule
Projects are time-bound, and one thing that determines success is the ability to meet the set timelines. Often keeping time is challenging, but strategies such as continually measuring the progress of tasks can help.
This will help you establish if you are falling far behind the timelines, allowing you to make adjustments to catch up. The team needs to have visual timelines on a Gantt chart or calendar template to remain focused.
Evaluating your schedule will also help allocate time for tasks that have experienced bottlenecks to ensure minimal impact on the overall program.
- Cost
Cost is a critical success factor. At the onset of a project, budgets are set, and the team is required to use the allocated resources to achieve the project’s objectives. Note that budget overruns can lead to delays in task implementation or even the failure of the entire project.
How do project teams measure costs? Cost variance is one of the tools used to measure the cost-effectiveness of a project. Positive variance indicates that the project is running under or within the allocated budget. On the other hand, negative variance shows that the costs are overrunning, which is a threat to the project.
Comparing your budget and the current spend will help you understand where you are regarding cost management and refocus to work within the set budget.
- Stakeholder satisfaction
The end goal of a project is to achieve stakeholder satisfaction. It, therefore, makes sense to evaluate the satisfaction of project stakeholders to determine whether it has been a success. The best way to measure satisfaction is by having a baseline survey at the beginning of the project. This way, you will identify the stakeholders’ expectations and use them to compare progress. Then, you can conduct a monthly or quarterly review of the project to assess how the stakeholders feel about it.
If they are happy with the progress and are delighted to continue supporting the course, you can consider the project a success.
Conclusion
Failure to measure the progress of a project increases the risk of failure. On the other hand, measuring progress ensures the whole team remains focused. Measuring the cost, stakeholder satisfaction, and timelines are some ways to assess the success of a project.
Ensure that the costs are not overrunning, and you work within the agreed timelines to satisfy stakeholders.
