ABSTRACT
The manager of a typical project would consider the task well done if the project finished on time, according to its specified performance and within its budgeted cost. These three objectives (time, performance and cost) are the traditional parameters for measuring project success or failure (and they will be discussed later in this chapter). However, although important, these three objectives relate mainly to the execution or fulfilment stage of a project, which is the period of most direct interest to the project manager and the principal contractor. Other people (not least the customer) might have quite different views about the ultimate success or failure of a project. A customer who finds that the project fails to live up to its initial promise and fails to deliver its expected return on investment will see the result as a failure. Other stakeholders might have their own, quite different, parameters for measuring success. So a project can only be considered completely successful if it satisfies all the stakeholders. This argument will be developed in the remainder of this chapter.
