Fundamental criteria for project success: description, features and recommendations. Conditions, factors and criteria for the successful implementation of the project Criteria for the successful implementation of the project

Many organizations are project-oriented. Companies exist by receiving new projects and their successful implementation. Successfully completed projects are the foundation on which an organization builds its future. Whether or not they involve creation new products, the construction of buildings, an increase in production capacity, or the introduction of a new computer system.

Project management is essential to effectively coordinate and manage an organization, ensuring that the right actions are taken the right time with full understanding of the consequences. The art of project management includes the ability to achieve goals within the established constraints on financial, material, human, time and other resources.

However, in most companies, projects do not always go smoothly. They don't fit into the routine daily work... Gartner, a world-renowned analytics firm, estimates that 66% of large-scale projects fail to meet their stated business goals, are completed late, or are significantly overspending. The Standish group, which tracks exclusively the success and failure of IT projects, defines failed projects as projects abandoned in the middle and estimates the failure rate at 15%. At the same time, “flawed” projects (defined as projects with cost overruns, missed deadlines, and projects with unsatisfactory results) account for 51% of all IT projects.

Why So Much Projects Continue to Fail even with an increasing focus on quality project management and an increasing number of experienced and competent project managers?

The Institute of St. Gallen and the International Institute for Learning Organizations and Innovation in Munich conducted research into the causes of successful and unsuccessful projects. They concluded that causes failures are less industrial-economic or technical in nature, and are largely related to the culture of entrepreneurship, communication and information processes on the project .

According to A. Golovin, the project will fail on three occasions :

• when unrealistic plans are developed or not revised if necessary. This means that they will be ripped off;
• when the project developer is not familiar with project management and is managing the project as a normal activity. Then the heads of departments do not know what to do: the main work or tasks for the project;
• when the project developer, when creating a project team, focuses not on personal qualities, but on positions. Then the project team members are unable to complete the project assignments.

Inaccurate deliverables and scope, lack of organizational commitment, poor allocation of resources and risk control, poor project management with components that are not fit for purpose, etc. - any of these reasons may cause the project to fail.

The main cause of project problems is the ability of the project manager to deal with problems while reducing risk. He must be a strong leader, able to communicate with the management of the company and meet expectations in resource management.

Poor project definition is also the main reason for project failure, starting from the approval stage. Insufficient level of accountability and responsibility at the appropriate higher level negatively affects the success of the project throughout its entire life cycle... If the customer does not manage the project or is not particularly interested in it, there is a possibility that the project will fail.

In general, it should be noted that the main reasons for project failure are:

• Requirements: Unclear, lack of mutual understanding, lack of priorities, contradictory, ambiguous, imprecise.
• Resources: Lack of resources, conflicts over resources, turnover of key resources, poor planning.
• Timing: Too concise, unrealistic, too optimistic.
• Planning: based on insufficient data, not everything is taken into account, not enough details, erroneous calculations.
• Risks: Unidentified or invented, lack of control.

The Standish group is confident that with The most important factors for the success or failure of a project are, in order of importance:

• Customer involvement.
• Top management support.
• Experienced project manager.

According to the studies of both foreign and domestic experts, most of the obstacles to fix a failed project, this is :

• Convincing owners to accept the changes necessary to bring the project to a successful conclusion, regardless of changes in scale, budget, resources, etc .;
• poor communication and owner involvement, lack of clarity and trust;
• conflicting policies and priorities;
• the problem of finding enough qualified resources to complete the project;
• lack of methodology or processes to get the project back on track.

During the research, many factors were identified that affect the success in correcting the situation with the project, but the most important is the project manager, who is the most important member of the team who can influence the result, reduce risks or get rid of them altogether. Usually it is the project manager who is responsible for rescuing the problematic project.

Other factors in successfully completing a problem project included the existence of a standard methodology for running or rescuing a problem project, the size of the firm, and the industry in which it does business.

The key to saving a troubled project is effort. Once the firm decides to channel its energy into solving the problems that put the project at risk, the chances of its successful completion increase.

The decision to rescue the project is made by: top management (in 50% of companies), sponsor (16%), department head (16%) or project manager (13%). V small firms the sponsor (24%) or the project manager (24%) have much more power to vote to save the project. Less often, this decision is made by the head of the department (5%).

Generalization practical experience project management shows that most often steps to save the project , this is :

• modernization of communication and management (62%);
• revision of project objectives - reduction of its scope, revision of funding (60%);
• adding or removing resources (58%);
• solving technical problems (49%);
• replacement of a project manager or hiring a consultant (36%).

Firms that do not have a methodology are more likely to choose to replace the project manager than those that have mastered the methodology (22% and 9%, respectively). They are also more likely to use outside consultants to bail out the project (26% versus 11%).

Usually, rescue operations on a problematic project are quite successful. Almost three quarters of problem projects (74%) have been successfully completed in the end, 18% are still in the process, so the final results are not known. Only 4% are really flopped, and 3% are closed for business reasons.

For successful implementation the project has two essential factors. First of them is rather technical side of project management... It is mainly associated with planning and cost estimation, project management and control, risk management, quality management, project documentation and evaluation of results. The second factor is an managerial competence project manager.

Companies that do not have a standard project methodology do not always value these skills than those that have such a methodology (78% of the former spoke about the importance of project manager qualifications and 96% - the latter).

Almost all responding organizations (92%) indicated that the skills of the project manager are very important(64%) or simply important (28%) for the success of the rescue operation of the problem project.

It is important that the responsibility for the implementation of the project at all stages of management (planning, implementation, control, analysis, changes) is borne by one person - project manager. This will focus the area of ​​responsibility and improve the efficiency of the decision-making process.

Successful project implementation depends not only from project managers and superiors, but also from many other members of the project team. Their actions should also be regulated, motivated and aimed at obtaining not only a timely, but also a high-quality result.

An important component is holistic role-based concept of management of each individual project and the entire portfolio... Roles must be defined, their place in organizational structure, rights and obligations, qualification requirements... An example of project roles might be: Project Manager, Project Assistant, Development Specialist, Construction Manager, Construction Specialist, Construction Coordinator, Design Specialist, Estimator, etc.

Yet one criterion for success on a project- this is the ability to choose the "main point of application of efforts", the ability to focus on priorities, the solution of which leads to significant progress towards the goal.

The goals of the project are achieved by action. The project manager is obliged to constantly monitor the progress of the project stages in deadlines and resource consumption. Wasted time cannot always be made up, even by increasing resources.

It is surprising that even the most skillfully planned project can reach a point where it is difficult to determine how things are going. But this is exactly what you need to know in order to direct efforts towards the goal. Without one or another monitoring system - tracking the progress of work - it is impossible to be sure that the manager "keeps his finger on the pulse" of the project.

Timely and accurate action is at the heart of the success of any project. , the foundation of which is organizational discipline - the ability to act “here and now”. An experience project activities shows that adherence to discipline and commitment of all project participants increases the chance of success by an order of magnitude.

Among the others success factors of project management should be called:

• introduction of an experienced project manager and delegation of sufficient rights to him to make the necessary changes;
• attraction of additional, qualified resources;
• increase in the budget;
• open communication, defining expectations and assigning responsibilities among responsible persons;
• redevelopment of the project.

Interviewing experienced project managers to find out if what is the most important component of a project's success, showed that it is its implementation... More often than not, projects are stalled by default than by any mistakes in planning or resource assignment.

It all starts at the top. Management must be aware of the cost and scope of the project. It is not enough to approve the estimate of the project. For the success of the project, all its participants must know that the management fully supports this event, the project has the highest priority, and its success is directly related to the future of the enterprise.

Leadership, due to its position, can provide important positive impact on the process of understanding the use of resources in the project. It can help you make sure, even before starting a project, how smart resource planning is. May insist on developing additional scenarios to catch up with what's possible and what's not.

Without the formation of a certain culture of project execution, the project manager is powerless to influence his progress towards the goal. Target dates are set, then skipped - the project schedule becomes a wish rather than an action plan. At the same time, everyone loses, but most of all - the company. The obligations of the executors should be aligned with the corresponding obligations of the management.

The manager cannot move forward without real coordinated actions of the project team. Depending on the scope of the project, this agreement can be replaced by assigning work to the project participants. In many cases, the project team consists of employees from all departments of the company. If team members do not pay enough attention to the work on the project, considering this work less important than their day-to-day responsibilities, the project will drift, and imperceptibly, but naturally, it will come to disaster.

If the obligations are met, then the project moves forward. But, in order for everything to happen on time, it is necessary to prepare a project schedule. A work plan is a timetable that serves as a realistic model of the expected behavior of a project. .

For project managers, the term “schedule” has a very specific meaning. From their point of view, a project schedule is not such if it does not contain a detailed analysis of all the activities required to complete the project; realistic estimates of the time required for each activity; and, finally, well-thought-out relationships between different kinds works.

Although project management uses terms such as start-finish, the terminology is nowhere near as important as the content: how the work relates to each other (what the technology is).

Obviously, researching the time / cost curve before the project starts allows the company to make the right decision when approving the project schedule.

Together, these elements provide an answer to the question: what needs to be done and by what date? Equally important is the question of how, what resources - people, equipment, structures, etc. - are required for each job? Will they be available when needed? How can resource conflicts be resolved?
If the project manager knows the plan's actual resource requirements and how to deal with resource shortages, then the project planning part is complete.

Project planning requires the ability to determine how long it will take to complete a task, especially if it involves creative or intellectual activities, regardless of the amount of resources required for it. Unfortunately, miscalculations of the project duration during initial planning are often taken too calmly, mistakenly assuming that everything will be completed on time, and the wasted time can always be made up by reallocating resources.

The schedule of some projects is based on the theory that you can endlessly increase the number of people and reduce the work time to achieve the desired results. In some situations, increasing the amount of resources helps. Sometimes not. Sometimes it does more harm than good.

Frederick P. Brooks, general manager development project operating system IBM 360 believes that in most cases, man-month scheduling is a myth. If the development project does not meet the deadline, an increase in the number of resources actually lengthens the duration of the project - due to training additional staff tracking their work and communication problems. This is tantamount to, according to Brooks, using gasoline to put out a fire.

When working with a project behind schedule best option- this is a change in the timing or scale of the project. The worst thing is to insist on making up for lost time. It's easy to be persuaded that some jobs can be accelerated without compromising quality. On paper, the quality remains. In reality, the requirements are simply reduced.

A report by management consulting firm McKinsey published in Fortune magazine estimates that some projects completed on time but over budget are 140% more profitable than if they were on budget but were late. six months .

As a conclusion summarizing the above, one should cite the data obtained by the St. Gallen Institute and the International Institute for Training Organizations and Innovations in Munich after conducting research on the reasons for the success and failure of projects, and reflecting project success criteria :

1. General readiness for change... Successful organizations are dominated by a philosophy based on the following principles: "live and learn", "the one who does nothing is not mistaken", "there is no such problem that we could not cope with."
2. Conflict culture... In successful projects, conflicts are dealt with constructively and openly. There is a free exchange of information and opinions, as well as openness to criticism.
3. Personal responsibility of the project staff... The success of projects is directly related to the degree of personal responsibility of the project staff and the possibility of self-organization. The more powers each individual has, the sooner he is ready to take responsibility, and the more is his personal initiative and motivation. Small powers, on the other hand, promote passivity and even resistance.
4. A culture of trust... A humanely pleasant climate of openness, sincerity and honesty in communication with each other increases the likelihood of project success. With a culture of trust, there is less error-making and decisions are made by everyone and then implemented.
5. Lack of hierarchy... Projects were especially successful then when the work on the project took place in a team, where the hierarchy does not play a role in the organization of the project, or at least is minimized. Rigid hierarchy blocked in unsuccessful projects creativity and motivation of the project staff.
6. Communication and information culture. The projects were especially successful when the atmosphere of intensive information exchange and open communication reigned in the team, i.e. high degree of publicity. Good communication in this regard means good cooperation, and vice versa. Intensive communication between different functional areas leads to the fact that mutual understanding grows, and employees can look beyond the "plate" of their own sphere, which leads to better decisions.

Thus, the generalization of the experience of project management showed that the competitiveness of the project should be constantly increased, achieving the maximum correspondence of its consumer and cost characteristics to the existing and potential needs of the customer. The realization of competitive advantage is based on the essence of value, which is the source of obtaining an advantage (material, intangible, monetary, social and other values), and depends on its content, source of origin, dynamism of manifestation, scale of distribution and other conditions.

First of all, it is necessary to formulate the goals of the project as clearly as possible. It is desirable that they be formulated according to the SMART 1 criterion. From experience, this is far from easy. I remember how at my master class 2 teams from a very large energy company formulated the goals of their projects, which at that time were already in full swing. After an hour and a half of arguing, they finally managed to more or less clearly define goals - before that, the company had a very vague understanding of what exactly needs to be done.

But this is often not enough. Therefore, a description of the criteria by which the project will be evaluated at the end is added to the goal. They are called criteria for the success and failure of the project. It is very important to define them at the initial stage ("agree on the shore"), since this will allow in the future to avoid many conflicts associated with the assessment of its results.

Basic criteria apply to any project, additional criteria should always be identified separately.

If you do not set the criteria, incidents often occur. So with an illiterate implementation new system motivating employees not only do not start better

1 See clause 2.4 "Objectives"

work, but also quit. At the beginning of the project, an important criterion was forgotten: to retain key personnel.

It's good if the goal of the project is formulated in one phrase and clarified next to

criteria.

EXAMPLE 58. Fedor Khaliulin, head of the design and construction company "GLASARD":"V commercial organizations and most of the projects are commercial. That is, one of the first criteria for success is profit. This is so clear to everyone that sometimes this criterion is not even formally included in the list. If such a mistake is made in a project with a large number of project team members, it may turn out that since the profit is not formalized, then there is no formal procedure for monitoring the project's profitability either. In this case, the project manager will be left without prompt access to the most important information. "

Example.By February 1, 2011, open and launch at full capacity a shopping and entertainment complex with the following parameters:

- total investment amount: ... euro;

- location: at the intersection of major highways within the Moscow Ring Road;

- availability of convenient access roads and parking lots for ... parking spaces;

- total area: from ... sq. m;

-100% change retail space for rent at a price of ... / sq. miles higher;

- operating costs no more .. ./sq. m;

- the number of staff in the staff - no more than ... people, etc.

Practice Assignment 43

Select a project on the example of which you will study the material

This chapter.

The project can be both real and fictitious. It is important that you and your team members find it interesting. Also, you should understand its subject area: either you are a professional in it, or on the basis of common sense.

From experience, it's good if it willtypical project, which you do for your external clients (of course, if your business consists of projects, for example, website development). Or it could beinvestment project to create a new asset for your business. Or -organizational, such as implementation information system... The benefit you get depends on the example you use to work through the material in this chapter.Formulate the goals of the selected project according to the SMART criterion and describe the criteria for success and failure.

SELECTION OF PROJECTS

The resources of any organization are limited, and there is always a choice where to direct them: to which of the current or new projects, to which department, etc. V large company it is desirable that a formal project selection procedure be applied, for example, once a year at the Project Committee with adjustments every six months or quarterly. In a small firm, everything can be simpler, but it is advisable to hold meetings several times a year on current and promising projects.

The selection of projects takes into account a variety of factors,for example:

The strategic importance of the project for the company;

Financial performance project (profitability, payback period, etc.) 1;

Restrictions:

~ temporary;

~ the need for resources (financial, human, technical, etc.);

~ technological;

~ administrative;

Risk level;

Project stakeholders and their interests. It is critical for the project to do this analysis. For example, the interest of the owners or top managers of the company in the project may outweigh all other factors. In this case, alas, the decision to launch a project is often made by will, without justification and calculations;

Assumptions and assumptions. We often do something based on assumptions that are sometimes not realized. For a long time, most companies have planned the future based on the assumption that the wealth of their customers will grow steadily. The crisis crept up unnoticed ...

When selecting projects, it is advisable to write down the key assumptions on the basis of which you believe that it will be successful.

EXAMPLE 59. Grigory Odulov, Deputy general director trading company:“Unfortunately, many projects are launched only on the basis of assumptions and assumptions. And it is not the fault, but the misfortune of managers and company owners that project management is turning into risk management. Often, one can only guess how this or that "interested" department (represented by a particular official) will interpret, depending on the situation, a certain law; how long the current “rules of the game”, tax policy, etc. will remain in force ”

It is desirable that ready-made presentations of current and possible projects, prepared in a single convenient form, are brought to the Project Committee,

1 See p. 4.3.4 “Project finance management”.

which allows the company's management to make an informed decision in the shortest possible time. The project office can provide methodological assistance to project managers and initiative groups in preparing projects for their submission to senior management.

Practice Assignment 44

Describe how the selection of projects is carried out in your company today. How optimal is this based on the interests of the business? Suggest the optimal procedure, as well as criteria for evaluating and selecting projects.

PROJECT CHARTER

It is very convenient when all the key parameters of the project are brought together in a document called charter (passport, declaration, card) of the project. Then anyone who needs to get acquainted with the project will need a few minutes: a good charter is 1-2 pages long.

My client- director large online store- shuddered when he heard the "Project Charter". In his previous company in France, it was a hefty 100-page tome. When introducing KSUP, he set us a strict requirement: “Minimum of documents! Otherwise there will be no time to work. " We didn't mind.

The project charter is approved by the top management of the company. It is the "tip of the iceberg": to prepare a high-quality charter, a large preparatory work... By the way, the presentation of a new project to the management can be prepared on the basis of its charter.

Each company decides for itself what information should be included in the model charter of their project. For example:

PRACTICE 45

Review the project charter form above for your company.Modify it if necessary.Draw up the charter of the project you previously selected based on the form you created. This is one of the key tasks of this chapter. If you do not have enough information to fill in some sections of the charter, return to this task later.

Economic calculations may appear in "Business plan" and / or "Feasibility study"(Feasibility study).

In a medium and large company, it is advisable to conclude with a project manager agreement (contract) specifically for this project, even if he works on the staff of the company. To record in writing his responsibility, the criteria for evaluating the results, "carrots and sticks."

PLAN BY MILLS

Another document that is helpful in the initiation phase is the milestone plan. A milestone is a key event in a project. Milestone Plan - a sequence of project milestones with the expected dates of their occurrence. He helps senior management to make the decision to launch the project, and on this basis, control is carried out.

Oftentimes, leaders are so happy with a milestone plan that they are eager to get started on the project. Although this is still only preliminary planning: the list of works, their interrelationships, etc. is not clear until the end 1

There should not be too many milestones: preferably no more than 12. It is also useful to plan what document will confirm the passage of a particular milestone. Since a milestone is an event, it is advisable to formulate the names of the milestones in perfect verbs: "Terms of reference has been signed" etc.

Practice Assignment 46

Develop a plan for the milestones of your project, from launch to completion.

OTHER DOCUMENTS

Each company decides for itself what other documents are needed at the stage of project initiation.

For example, still on the initial stage you can ask the initiators of the project a short "Project concept" before moving on: after all, the collection detailed information, its analysis, calculations, various approvals require labor time. And the management may decide that it makes sense to do all this work only after the preliminary approval of the project.

Experience shows that not everyone can clearly and clearly state their thoughts on 1 page or 2-3 slides. Here is the first filter for selecting projects - and it works automatically, without additional management efforts. And at the same time - a means of educating employees.

Practice Assignment 47

Decide what documents your company needs at the project initiation stage.Include everything you need to do, but don't add unnecessary bureaucracy.

£ 42. PROJECT START-UP MEETING

When the decision to launch the project has already been made and the team has been approved, it is advisable to hold a meeting at which to give the participants the go-ahead: "Start!" Quite accurately, the essence of this event is conveyed by the English term "kick-off meeting" ("start-up meeting"), which means something like "kick-off meeting".

The meeting is held in order to:

Publicly approve the start of the project;

Announce a single agreed point of view on the project;

Get everyone's consent stakeholders, to motivate the participants.
It is desirable that the project manager, the project team,

top management of the organization, other key players,

At the meeting, the project manager usually gives a short presentation and then answers questions from the participants.

At the exit, each participant must clearly understand:

What tasks does the project solve;

Who is in charge of the project;

Key clients and stakeholders;

Benefits of these parties from the implementation of the project;

Internal organization project, distribution of roles;

Project parameters: goals, scope of work, timing, budget;

The main difficulties and methods of overcoming them.

Practice Assignment 48

Have you ever wondered what the criteria for the success of a project might be?

What is a successful project and what are the criteria for the success of project managers?

Every project manager or specialist who deals with project management and wants to increase labor productivity has its own measures and criteria for success. However, many of them will probably agree: to get an answer to this question, you need to evaluate not only the result itself, but also the process of preparing a project with all its methods, technologies and tools used.

If you are at the very start of your project and are going to draw up a plan and work schedule for all stages and deadlines ... If you plan to use convenient calendars and design optimal processes and correctly set tasks for the whole team ... And, finally, if in the end you want to get a project that will contain real criteria for success ... Then it's time to get acquainted with the application that allows you to create, plan projects and buildonline Gantt charts.

GanttPRO has quality and useful features and tools for successful planning any project. With GanttPRO, anyone can apply Gantt charts to any project, regardless of the level of project complexity.

Who is GanttPRO designed for?

“Project managers are the most creative professionals in the world. We have to solve all the problems before they happen. ”

Fredrik Haren

Project management software solutions can be applied by different companies in different areas. According tolast year's study, the list of companies that use project management software, most often represent manufacturing (10%), medicine (9%), technology (8%), construction (8%), banks / financial institutions(8%), developers software(7%), business services (7%), and the rest (43%).

This material will help to highlight the TOP-5 features of GanttRRO, which can identify the criteria for project success and achieve high results.

The main features of GanttPRO for the successful management of your project

Automatic planning for a good start of the project

If you are used to planning everything manually, notice how you can improve the success criteria of a project using the automatic planning program.

• Automatic scheduling with GanttPRO allows you to plan and track each stage of the project and determine the duration of each task.
• The user can set the desired parameters and schedule the execution time taking into account working hours, weekends and holidays, etc.
• Automatic project scheduling allows you to speed up project implementation processes and significantly save your time, for example, by quickly moving tasks or attaching files directly to tables.
• Using auto scheduling and Gantt charts, project managers can recalculate deadlines and change the schedule of tasks, for example, in case of a shift in the project start date.

Now you can forget about a lot of routine computing processes, - automatic system will do everything for you.

Smart calendar as the main tool for business management

"Never leave for tomorrow what you can do today."

Benjamin Franklin

When planning their project, managers must consider many factors that can affect tasks and deadlines. GanttPRO offers to use a convenient calendar to create a suitable work schedule for any processes and business goals, taking into account work, weekends and holidays, etc. Gantt charts are great for those project managers who want to detail their tasks carefully.

The smart calendar contains many benefits for improving the project success criterion that can assist you in predictive planning.

This type of planning assumes that you forecast tasks and when to complete them in advance. It takes a little longer to develop, but its clear advantage is in a more realistic project timeline as it reflects the real model, including dependent tasks and available resources.

Smart calendar and predictive planning help manage project teams, because:

• Start and finish dates for tasks will be based on team performance;
• Each person in the team will know the impact of their work on the project;
• Project managers will easily predict project completion dates. Even if one of the employees is not available.

Teamwork that unites all efforts

Managing your own affairs is half the battle; to control the work processes of the whole team means to win!

Using GanttPRO, you can plan projects with your team and collaborate with Gantt charts.

If you would like to create a project team, select the settings in the upper right corner of your page. There you can also invite members to the group by entering their email addresses and clicking the "Invite" button.

Do you remember the last match of your favorite basketball team? As a rule, the results of matches are directly determined by a cohesive, cooperative and responsive effective team. The same happens during the planning and implementation of any project.

The best proof is in a striking example.

Let's take a look at how GanttPRO can help organize a team's workflow when preparing a marketing project.

For example, a marketer works for a large company and plans to implement a global project in certain time and with definite results. This could be, for example, a marketer trying to schedule a conference or exhibition. Let's assume that he needs to define all the deadlines and schedule the tasks of the project for different departments or colleagues:

• For chief to approve participation;
• For logisticians to arrange delivery to the place;
• For lawyers to prepare everything Required documents and help;
• For purchasing department to purchase the necessary goods on time;
• For marketers to provide visual advertising and brand awareness during project implementation;
• For PR specialists, to provide information support and promotion in media channels;
• For designers to develop the required attributes;
• For content department to create all messages for the project, and so on.

And there can be many more such interactions.

As you can see, planning and organized team processes can dramatically speed up the results of any project. Rest assured that nothing gets lost with a good structure.

Tracking the status in the GanttPRO settings for high-quality project implementation

There is another important feature of GanttPRO which helps to track the progress and status of the project. Tracking status allows you to check the status and progress of each stage since the start of the project, as well as make planning more convenient.

You can easily check the status of a project or task by knowing the start of the project and the end date. In addition, you can track the percentage of completion of any stage of the project and how much time was spent on it. This allows you to decide how to schedule tasks, even if your company has flexible schedule work or different shifts. Therefore, project managers can always manage resources efficiently and be aware of all tasks and issues. It will be difficult to miss something with GanttPRO.

Time-saving templates

Using previously completed projects, you can create a template for your future goals. This will save time and avoid repeated steps when creating the next project from scratch.

This feature will be useful if your last project is completely finished. The reasons for this can be different, but it is very convenient to have a basic project template always at hand. All you need to do to start a new project is adjust the settings and get started. Here you can archive and save as a Gantt chart template.

These five functions of GanttPRO look perfectly acceptable and easy to apply, don't they? Want to know more about the criteria for project success?The easiest way is to read the information on the GanntPRO website as well as on youtube channel.

We hope this material is about useful functions GanttPRO will help you succeed in project management.

We are always glad to receive your comments and wishes!

Question 3 - Objectives and strategy of the project.

Objectives of the project – desired result activity, achieved as a result of the successful implementation of the project, in the given conditions of its implementation.

Project strategy- describes the results that must be performed to achieve the totality of the project's objectives.

The project objectives describe the full range of major issues related to the project across all functional areas.

Project goal indicators:

1. These are the results of a product or service of the required quality;

2. Time (duration and specific date);

3. Costs.

The definition of a project describes the tasks facing it and the main conditions for its implementation. A goal becomes a task if a deadline for its achievement is specified, and quantitative characteristics of the desired result are specified.

Finding project objectives is tantamount to defining a project and amounts to important stage in the development of the project concept. After finding the goals of the project, they begin to search and evaluate alternative ways her achievements.

Requirement for the formulation of project objectives:

1. Clear definition and clear meaning;

2. The results obtained in achieving the goal should be measurable;

3. The specified constraint and requirement must be met (time, budget, resources and required quality of the result).

Goal setting Is an ongoing process in which the current situation, trend is analyzed and, if necessary, the goal is adjusted.

The project strategy defines the direction and basic principles of the project, is characterized by a set of qualitative and quantitative indicators by which the implementation of the project is assessed.

Requirement for strategy formulation:

1. Should be developed at the initial stages of its implementation.

2. Must be comprehensive.

3. All major aspects of the project should be covered.

4. As the project is developed, the strategy should be updated and revised accordingly.

The criteria for the success and failure of a project is a set of indicators that make it possible to judge the success of a project. The main requirement and criterion is their unambiguous and clear definition. For each project and each customer, success criteria must be defined, evaluated and analyzed.

The main types of criteria:

1. Traditional - "on time within the allocated budget in accordance with the requirements for quality and project results";

2. Specific - leading in the organization's project;

3. Benefits for project participants.

Examples of criteria for the success of projects:

1. Providing the required functionality;

2. Fulfillment of the client's requirement;

3. Benefits for the contractor;

4. Meeting the needs of all project participants;

5. Achievement of the previously set goal.

Examples of failure criteria:

1. Exceeding the limit of costs and time;

2. Non-compliance with the quality requirement;

3. Ignorance or ignorance of requirements or claims.

What is a project? Organization of an enterprise from scratch? Or, perhaps, just a separate subdivision of it? Building a brand or a single product? Hosting a celebration for commercial gain or just organizing a party with friends? How many of us know how to measure the success of a project? Success criteria, how many and how they are defined - for many, these concepts are also an unsolved mystery. There are many questions, aren't there? To get answers to them, read the article.

Classics of the genre

In managerial management, it has a completely logical and understandable definition. This is any company limited in terms of time, with the goal of creating a product, service or other explicit result. That is, the project will not be itself entrepreneurial activity, but only its start or reorganization. Not creating an idea, but bringing it to life.

If everything is clear with this, then the question of how the criteria for project success are determined is not so unambiguous. To begin with, it's not always clear what is meant by success. Management specialists believe that a business can then be considered successful when its initiators have met the deadline and budget allotted for its implementation, while the quality of the created good corresponds to that stated in the plan. However, there are several parameters that also conditionally indicate the positive implementation of the project or its failure.

Unspoken criteria for project success

To begin with, everyone sees the very definition of success differently. According to statistical data, from the first time, not all enterprises reach their logical conclusion, but only a third of them. In all other cases, the work needs to be made some adjustments in the course of the order. But again, if the figures are to be believed, the profits of businessmen who sacrificed increased costs for the sake of accelerating the pace of work increase by almost one and a half times (by 140%) compared to those who decided not to inflate the budget, but extended the period for realizing their goals.

Therefore, in addition to the above measures in the form of money, time and quality, two more parameters must be taken into account:

1. New positive experience gained as a result of the team's work.
2. Satisfaction with the results of the assignment of all participants in the enterprise.

It cannot be said that it is principle criteria the success of the project, but they are important and they need to be taken into account by those leaders who seek to develop their offspring, and not stagnate all their lives in one place.

That which cannot be touched

The difficulty in determining the two parameters presented above is that they cannot be calculated. Their results are quite subjective. The experience gained primarily concerns the executor of the order, and with the solution of each new task the company becomes stronger and more successful. This is important for the future activities of the business, because rich experience helps in attracting customers and makes it possible to successfully implement new projects.

But it is almost impossible to achieve all-round satisfaction with the results of work. There will always be someone who will not like a business partner. This happens especially often in cases where the goals and criteria for the success of the project are not initially defined. Project management is a separate area in the science of enterprise management, and it should be given special attention. As practice shows, a case ends with success, which is favored by the following factors:

• the project manager and his team are ready for changes, have flexibility and the ability to quickly redirect the vector of their activities;
• each of the participants in the enterprise has its own share of responsibility;
• there is no hierarchy in the team or it is minimized;
• the company implementing the project promotes the principles of a culture of trust between employees, it is also important to respond in a timely manner to conflict situations and not to allow a tense atmosphere in the team and between the contractor and the customer;
• the last factor is the development of information and communication culture.

Now let's discuss in more detail the main criteria for the success and failure of projects.

Time and planning

Anyone who has ever been involved in the implementation of a project knows how important it is to draw up a preliminary plan for a future enterprise. However, not everyone knows how to do it correctly. When planning an activity, it is necessary to describe each step in great detail, allocating a realistic amount of time for its implementation. It is time management that is of fundamental importance in the implementation of the project. The criteria for the success of any business include this parameter as mandatory for a reason.

If the contractor cannot complete the work on time, and the deadline is constantly delayed, there is very little chance of a successful completion of the project. At the same time, it is not worth working quickly, but at the expense of quality. Often, even those projects in which all deadlines have been thwarted, in the end show good results and bring solid profits.

Price and reallocation of resources

Often in business there are situations when a project is in jeopardy due to insufficient funding. Money may not be enough for various reasons - change regulatory framework, miscalculations when drawing up a plan, change of supplier or contractor, etc. The decision to overcome the crisis falls on the shoulders of the investors, the head of the company or the project manager.

In the case when additional financing of the enterprise is not forecasted, the project manager must make a decision on cost optimization. This is a completely logical and reasonable step, but, as practice shows, a case in which personnel fell under the distribution (reduction of people, refusal to train newcomers, decrease in the general level of competence of employees) is unlikely to achieve great success. Therefore, it is better to go over budget than pay even more to correct your own mistakes later.

Quality and reduced requirements

Timeline and budget are those criteria for project success that allow for adjustments and deviations from the original plan. Most of the customers agree to pay extra and give more time for the implementation of the case, but no one, we repeat - no one, will agree to receive a low-quality product as a result of their work. You cannot save on raw materials or human resources... This "optimization" rarely leads to success. The only exceptions can be truly worthwhile changes that simultaneously reduce the cost of implementing the project, but do not diminish its prospects.

Is the project manager a criterion for his success?

No, rather, it is a factor in the success of the enterprise. This is proved by more than one life example. The criteria for the success of the project do not refer to a specific person, but to his organizational activities and his leadership qualities... Nevertheless, even an extremely experienced and in all respects good project manager will not be able to achieve his goals if he does not cope with the many bureaucratic delays and incompetence of subordinates.

Any specialist will easily prove his professional suitability in the field of activity with which he is familiar, but as soon as he finds himself in an unknown environment for himself, he is likely to fail. But, as they say, the one who does nothing is not mistaken, so go for it and achieve success!