If you could change a few things on your project to vastly increase your chance of success, wouldn’t you do it?

Of course you would.

The problem is working out which factors to change to have the most impact.

New research from the APM has done that for you. Their study into the conditions for project success sets out 12 factors that have an impact on whether or not your project is successful. The most important thing to come out of the research though is the fact that while project managers and teams know what they have to do to be successful, they don’t apply that knowledge. In other words, they know they aren’t doing the right things and yet they carry on anyway. As a result, the APM study concludes that nearly 80% of projects fail to wholly meet their objectives.

The 12 project success factors aren’t complicated and probably won’t be news to you if you have experience managing projects. Let’s look at them and also what you can do to make sure you are taking advantage of them.

1. Effective governance

Your project should have clearly identified leadership with clear reporting lines.

Check you have: Roles and responsibilities documented for everyone on the team, including your sponsor and project steering group.

2. Goals and objectives

There should be a clear goal for the project that everyone understands. The objectives for the project should support other initiatives in the organisation – in other words, your project shouldn’t conflict with anyone else’s.

Check you have: A document setting out the vision and objectives for the project.

3. Commitment

Everyone should be committed to deliver the project successfully. If you sense any wavering amongst the stakeholder group, this should be addressed at the earliest opportunity.

Check you have: Full support from your managers, team and colleagues.

4. Capable sponsors

A sponsor should be someone who can support you and the team. They are the person responsible for the project overall and they are accountable for the outcomes. A capable sponsor (i.e. someone who is prepared, trained and able to work in this way) is a huge asset.

Check you have: An effective sponsor. There isn’t much you can do if you have an ineffective sponsor, but you should be aware that your project is likely to struggle if they can’t support you in the ways that a capable sponsor would.

5. Secure funding

Secure funding means having a dedicated project budget with an allowance for contingency. It also means that your cost management plans 

are good and that you have mature and robust ways of tracking project expenditure.

Check you have: Approval for your budget and you know how to access it, spend it and track your spending.

6. Project planning and review

This is quite a large area for the project manager. Project plans should be in place and should be achievable. The work done to plan the project needs to be adequate and proportionate to the project overall. You also need good methods in place to track progress along with a way to record lessons learned as you go.

Check you have: A realistic timeline for your project and a standard way of measuring your progress against your plan.

7. Supportive organisations

A supportive organisation is one which lends itself to project work. In other words, there are resources available for projects and you aren’t struggling to get time from people to attend meetings.

Check you have: A work culture that is project-friendly. Having said that, there isn’t a lot you can individually do to put this right if you do identify that your business culture isn’t conducive for running projects.

8. End users

End users are important because they are the ones who will ultimately use whatever it is that your project is delivering. They should be involved in the project the whole way through, first because it ensures you are working on something they actually want, and second because it makes it easier to hand over the finished product at the end.

Check you have: An end user representative on your project team.

9. Competent project teams

Successful projects are led by a team of people who are all experts in what they do. They are trusted, knowledgeable and competent. A project managed by inexperienced people is likely to hit some major hurdles.

Check you have: A good mix of experienced professionals on your project team.

10. Aligned supply chain

The supply chain is how you get goods in to your project. This relates to the procurement processes and how they are aligned to project work. For example, suppliers should know about the overall goals of the project and how their part of the work fits in. The supply chain should also be managed so that goods are delivered on time and do not hold up the rest of the project.

Check you have: Contracts in place with all your suppliers, detailing what they are expected to do and when.

11. Proven methods and tools

Project management tools and techniques should be in use on your project if you want it to be a success. This is hardly news – a project that 

has no structure and that doesn’t use proven methodologies and approaches and still hits all its deadlines and budget targets is going to be rare.

Check you have: The right tools and techniques to help you manage effectively. Adopt one standard or a blend of several to find an approach that works for your organisation.

12. Appropriate standards

This success factor relates to quality. The standards should be in place to ensure that you get a quality output at the end, through a mixture of performance reviews, audits and regular monitoring.

Check you have: A plan for when audits, peer reviews and other quality assessments will take place on your project. Write these activities into you master project plan.