(^36) 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know
Success Is Always Measured in Business Value
Barbee Davis, MA, PHR, PMP
Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
AS PRo jECT MAnAgERS, it’s easy to get caught up in meeting our time, cost,
scope, and quality baselines. The project quickly becomes an end in itself, and
our personal worth becomes entwined with our ability to bring this project in
according to these measurable expectations.
We need to focus on the fact that the project is only as successful as the busi-
ness value it adds to the organization. If we’re producing a software product
for market, the evaluation factors for “success” are clear. We need to use our
project management skills to bring this product to market quicker so we can
get it sold to a large portion of the customer base before the competition is able
to produce a similar or even better product.
We need to sell to a majority of the marketplace before the demand for this
item dries up. We need to design this software so that it is easy for customers
to install and learn to use. It needs to be easy to maintain and update.
Many software project managers feel their job is merely to get the software
completed. Without connecting the project to the business need, great soft-
ware could be a failure from the organization’s return on investment (ROI)
point of view.
If this is an internal project, how does this software project allow the organiza-
tion to save or earn money? Will we need fewer hardware resources because
what we develop is faster, more compressed, or has a better architecture? Will
we be able to make more money since we can take orders faster, process them,