Project Manager Mindset Worth Trying: The Project Success Equation

"Is there a one-and-done project management practice?"
"How can I find a solution to all problems?"
"Why do I use the same method, but some projects are delayed?"
...
These questions are often asked in many agile groups. So is there a way to solve all problems? The answer is: no, because there is no silver bullet.

As early as 1986, Fred Brooks once put forward from an academic point of view: there is no silver bullet that can solve the software crisis. why? The most fundamental reason is that the software itself has the following inherent characteristics:

• Complexity: Software complexity will increase nonlinearly with scale, and problems such as project cost overruns, out-of-sync personnel status, poor functional availability, and complex structure may occur;
• Consistency: The software system needs to interact with the existing system, which requires the interface of the new software system to be consistent with the original software system;
• Variability: Since external factors such as user needs and markets are constantly changing, this requires software to have variability;
• Invisibility: Everyone has a different understanding of software, requirements or tasks, which can make communication extremely difficult.
• These characteristics create many challenges in software delivery projects, reduce team effectiveness, and even lead to project failure.

Faced with these challenges, we are not helpless. While there is no silver bullet in a software delivery project, project success is the result of a combination of factors. As long as we identify the factors that can affect the project process and act immediately, we can improve the project success rate. We can drive project success by building a team’s project success equation through a mindset:

From the above project success equation, we can know that whether the project is successfully delivered depends on the boundary values of various factors. In a project, the factor of the lower bound will determine the upper bound of the whole project. That is, if every factor in the project can be increased from 1 to 1.01, the multiplication of multiples will also produce huge results. Correspondingly, if you reduce each item to 0.99, such as rough management "a little", value reduction "a little", slow action "a little"... Such projects will be full of loopholes.

So how to increase the factor in the project from 1 to 1.01? The following path of action can help you:

Product value is the most special link in the entire project success equation: project success is meaningful only when the product generates value.

The project success equation is just a way to help project managers think better about problems. The success of a project is affected by many factors. The above list is not all of the factors that affect the success of the project. Expand this project success equation and improve team project management. Come with us to find the best practices for each project.