OUTCOMES
Understand and agree on what success is for the project.
USING THE TOOL
The success definition tool helps you to assess (in collaboration with any project partners), what should be considered as success from the project. This gives you clear targets to work towards, helps focus you and the client on what is critical and helps to lay out core objectives of the project. This can later be referred back to in order to measure success overall or to re-evaluate what is important as the project progresses.
Describe success: Working with partners, describe key elements of success making sure to consider all four categories of value: User value, Technological Value (improving technological capacity for instance), Commercial Value and Strategic Value (value for the strategy of your client, organisation or partners).
Set key performance indicators (KPIs): Then, for each of the most important elements of success, make sure you all agree on the behaviour you expect to see that would indicate a certain level of performance (or a KPI), what method you can use to measure that behaviour and finally, what new measurement would be expected in order to consider it a success. For each element consider making a distinction on what successes are essential and what would be a bonus.
Tips
Don't forget to refer back to this with your clients and project partners as you move through the project as some of the expectations may change depending on the direction of the project
Don't be concerned if not all categories of success are filled in this exercise - projects have different priorities
If you can, prioritise or categorise which elements of success are essential to achieve and which are extra bonuses. It may help to create a scale with some of the metrics
