09/ 13/ 2006
by Jeffrey Moses
Normally companies go to great lengths to analyze their failures in hopes of learning from mistakes and avoiding them in future. Analyzing successes can be just as important. Doing so allows a business to pinpoint things it did right and build on strengths to maximize future profitability and growth.
Determining the reasons for success of an endeavor can spotlight a business' most fundamental strengths. Perhaps an individual or a particular team/department is recognized as highly effective. Maybe the marketing/sales methods of the project are seen to have been right on the money. Or it could be that the projected timelines were especially accurate, allowing optimal usage of financing, purchasing expertise, assignment of employees and other factors.
But these are just a few of the numerous decisions and activities that can go right with a project. The causes of success can be as varied and unexpected as the causes of failure. Every project constitutes a series of decisions and actions based on those decisions. Normally, successful projects involve an intricate interaction of many components, each of which can be analyzed and noted as the basis for future successful operations.
Whether a company is a microbusiness or has numerous employees, the process of analyzing projects is essentially the same. The following checklist can serve as a starting point for determining the reasons a project is successful.
- Overall project management from inception to conclusion
- Definition of overall project goals
- Estimation of budget and time requirements
- Cooperation and communication between management, departments and individuals
- The accuracy of defining and monitoring benchmarks of progress throughout the project (enabling timely changes in implementation)
- The handling of unexpected setbacks during the project
- Use of equipment
- Identification of random, unexpected problems in a timely way
- Coordination of production, marketing, sales and delivery
- Coordination of financing throughout the project, as defined by the initial overall plan
- Training of sales staff
- Training of individuals involved in warranty work
While examining each of these factors, and others perhaps too numerous to mention, you should also ask these questions: Even though the project was successful, could it have been even more successful overall? Could any of the factors listed above been handled better?
For any specific successful project, it's commonly found that one or two aspects in particular were performed correctly and contributed most to ultimate success. These vary from one project to the next because each project has its own parameters, goals, timelines and personnel involved. Even so, pinpointing these strengths will enable them to be most effectively brought into play for future projects.
