Factors in project success

With inputs from a literature review, depth interviews with senior project professionals and educators, and the deliberations of APM and its partners, a framework of project success factors has been developed.

The framework has 12 main success factors, each with a small group of contributory or subsidiary success factors.

This framework was used as the basis of an on-line survey of 862 project professionals (divided equally between APM members and non-members).

Respondents were asked to say how important each factor in the framework is to project success in general (and to suggest amendments and additions), to rate their most recent project as to its success, and to report the degree to which each success factor was in place in that most recent project.

Respondents to the survey were widely varied in respect of age, length of project experience, sectors, types and values of project and project roles. However, there was particularly strong representation of middle-aged and older respondents who worked in senior positions on high value projects.