ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the academic background to this question, dividing the idea of success into strategic and tactical success. It looks at the various paradoxes that accompany major public projects as criteria for success are developed. The combination of disparate measures calculated in terms of finance raises a number of issues, such as the accounting conventions used, interest rates, how to evaluate through-the-life impact of a project and so on. However, the emphasis on the strategic aims of the project often dissipates once funding has been granted and eyes external to the department have been taken off the project. At the highest level, in many jurisdictions, projects are undertaken by a separate body to the government department. Public opinion can be fickle, and the mood on particular investments is affected by media reporting. At the most basic level, the people have distinguished between tactical project management efficiency success and strategic project output effectiveness success.
