My understanding of “project success”

If we get the definition of Merriam-Webster for “success”, we will find one that reads “favorable or
desired outcome”. So what does it mean to have a favorable or desired outcome of a project? The
ultimate goal of any project is to produce positive results; now positive results can have many
connotations, for some it means production of money, others seek a personal goal, others will aim on a
social gain or giving back to society.

So, if we encapsulate “project success” to only the projects that were finished on time and within
budget we are missing the big picture. A classic example of a project finished on time is the Ford Edsel, it
came out in 1958 and by 1960 it was out of production, the problem was the public did not liked the
product so it didn’t sell; the end result is project failure in many levels.

On the other side we have an example of a delayed project that is an astonishing success, “The London
Eye”, the attraction suffered multiple delays and unforeseen problems, it was scheduled to commence
operations by January-1st-2000 but the real date was pushed to March-9 th-2000 due to a capsule clutch
problem.

Therefore, above tells us that project success is much more than timelines and coordinating activities, it
entails the end goal and its relevance to what we wanted to achieve. Of course getting on time and
budget is important, but this is only part of it, we must be careful not to lose perspective of the end goal
while watching the details.

In my current company a few years ago we launched an architectural lighting product line, the products
where released on time, marketing advertised the new products and distribution channels where ready
to sell the product. Three years later the product line was discontinued as the market was too
competitive and the margins the company was looking for where not there. We stuck with our high end
industrial lighting where the company can have a good differentiator, not all of the products are
released on time or within strict budget, but we have been able to grow the company on a steady and
aggressive pace, overall a huge success.

Reference

Ray Long; Project Success. ITNOW 2016; 58 (4): 4-7. doi: 10.1093/itnow/bww090
Deming’s 14 points

 Which one of Deming’s points do you most agree with? Describe you experience as it relates
positively or negatively to this point.
The point that speaks most dear to my heart is the “build quality into the product” instead of
inspecting. My background in working on the factory for ~20 years has thought me that
inspections are condemned to fail at a certain time, either because of operator fatigue, machine
failure or oversight, they will fail at one point.
On the other side, if products are designed to be made only one way, the right way, then there
is no need to add inspections. Sure, it’s easier said than done, but the end result sure pays off.

 Which one of Deming’s points do you not agree? Why?

The part of “eliminate numerical goals and quotas and management by objectives, substitute by
leadership”, although I understand he wanted to institute a cultural change where people do
best because they want to not because they are being measured, reality is that measurements
are needed in order to define what “good” looks like, where do we want to go and were are we.
We can loose site of where we are and where we want to be if no goals and measurements are
instituted.