The Handbook of Project Management, 6th Edition

Chapter 4 Project success

Jeffrey Pinto and Lavagnon Ika

DOI: 10.4324/9781003274179-5

Introduction

Understanding what we mean by “success” in projects presents a surprisingly complicated challenge. In situations where there is clear evidence to support a nearly unqualified success, as in the case of the Panama Canal expansion, it seems relatively easy to point to its success on many levels as a testimony to careful planning, hard work, and sound results. The project, when opened in 2016, included new sets of locks, the widening and deepening of the canal, sustainable water drainage technologies, and the capacity for the canal to carry nearly twice the capacity it had previously possessed.

Contrastingly, organizations are often confronted ...