Project Success : Identifying critical success factors and success criteria

The thesis purposes is to explore how project managers work with project management in practice and as well study the relevance and applicability of the traditional frameworks in project-based companies. In this study we have focused on success factors and success criteria. The former refers project management, whereas the latter focus on the most important criteria upon which the project is being measured against (project objectives). We used Pinto and Slevin (1987) and Shenhar et al. (2001) in order to analyze our data. The findings in the study showed that all three projects were managed differently but all were perceived as successful due to high customer satisfactions. The main findings in Critical Success Factors were the importance of client consultation, communication, control over the budget and time schedule throughout the whole project life cycle. Trouble-shooting should also be highlighted with an emphasis on flexibility during the planning and execution phase. Lastly, technical task was not of importance during project implementation. The main results in success criteria and the most crucial aspects for determining project success was customer satisfaction and meeting the budget- and time-schedule. The second finding was the importance of exceeding the client’s expectations. Lastly, the evaluation of project success according to long and future time where not of interest to project managers