In my opinion, having a competent project manager to manage your project is not enough to guarantee a successful project outcome. The reason is that, if certain Critical Success Factors are there to support the project manager, even if the project manager is not experienced or competent enough, there is still very high possibility for the project to be successful.
I like the idea of the 4 M's which was talked about in the Chapter 8, in the book titled "Construction Management" that was written by Daniel W. Halpin and Ronald W. Woodhead. The 4 M's are:
- Money
- Machines
- Manpower
- Material
By leveraging on that, based on my observation and experience in managing a few troubled IT projects, I have identified the following Five Key Aspects of the Critical Project Success Factors (CPSF) that can be based on:
- Manifest
- Money
- Methods, Machine, Tools & Technology
- Management, Man Power & Stakeholders
- Time
The CPSFs have to be addressed accordingly during those key project phases:-
- Project Start-up
- Project Initiation
- Project Planning
- Project Execution
- Project Hand-over
- Project Closure
Some of the CPSFs are beyond project manager's control, but have to be addressed through good working relationship with respective stakeholders.
