Understanding the Link Between Metrics and Project Success

🎯 Myth #9: Project Success = On Time, On Budget (From the series: Project Management Myths That Need to Die) Let’s talk about one of the most dangerous lies in project management: 🗣️ If it’s on time and on budget—it’s a success! Sounds logical, right? But here’s the brutal truth: 📉 A project can hit every milestone and stay within budget— and still fail miserably in delivering business value. Think about it… ✅ You delivered the system—but no one adopted it. ✅ You finished the product—but it didn’t solve the customer’s problem. ✅ You built the solution—but it’s already obsolete. That’s not success. That’s a well-executed waste of resources. 🚫 The triple constraint (time, cost, scope) is a delivery metric. It is not a value metric. It tells you how efficient the process was—not how effective the outcome is. Here’s what modern project success actually looks like: 💡 Value delivered—not just work completed. 💡 Stakeholder satisfaction—not just box-checking. 💡 Strategic alignment—not just task execution. 💡 Long-term adoption—not short-term delivery. 💡 Outcomes over outputs. Impact over activity. In my 40+ years in the field, I’ve seen projects “celebrated” at go-live… only to quietly be retired six months later because they never created meaningful impact. 🧠 Myth to Kill: If we delivered on time and budget, we succeeded. ✅ New Truth: If we delivered measurable value and impact, we succeeded. 🔍 Food for Thought: What’s your definition of success? How does your organization measure the value of a project—beyond the schedule? Let’s redefine the scoreboard. 📣 Share below: What’s one project you’ve seen that met the plan—but missed the point? #ProjectLeadership #ProjectSuccess #BeyondTheTripleConstraint #ValueDrivenPM #Drtonyprensa767 #StrategicExecution #PMOMetrics #ProjectManagement #FoodForThoughtPM

How can projects succeed in time and budget but still miss the mark on delivering the organization's desired outcomes? Consider the distinction: Project outputs are the tangible deliverables – reports, software features, built structures. They signify completion. Desired outcomes are the resulting benefits – increased efficiency, customer satisfaction, market share. They represent impact. Without connecting outputs to outcomes, even successful projects will most likely not achieve outcomes. Make your projects count. These 4 strategic connections are non-negotiable: 1️⃣ Strategic Alignment of Projects: Align projects (actions) with strategic priorities (viewpoints/goals) to ensure efforts contribute to the overall strategic direction and outputs achieve desired outcomes. This is where strategy sets the course, and projects provide the means to get there, ensuring every action has a purpose. 2️⃣ Strategic Resource Allocation: Prioritize projects based on strategic impact. This ensures that the most important initiatives get the resources they need to succeed, maximizing the organization's investment. 3️⃣ Outcome Translation: Link project outcomes to strategic results (KPIs). This establishes a clear line of sight between project deliverables and the metrics that matter most to the organization's overall success. 4️⃣ Strategic Adaptability: Adapt project portfolio to evolving strategy. This enables the organization to remain agile and responsive to changing market conditions and strategic shifts, ensuring that project investments remain aligned with current priorities. In conclusion, while project management delivers outputs within constraints, strategy management provides the crucial framework to ensure those outputs drive organizational success and achieve Desired Outcomes. Effective strategy management prioritizes resources, guides project selection, and directly links project outcomes to strategic objectives. Therefore, integrating both project and strategy management is indispensable for sustained success. How do you make these connections? Send me a note to dive into this! #StrategicThinking #StrategicPlanning #ProjectManagement

🚨 𝐏𝐌𝐎 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 — 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬? Here’s the hard truth: Executives don’t care how many Gantt charts we’ve created or how many meetings we’ve held. What they do care about is: 📈 Value. 🎯 Results. 🤝 Strategic alignment. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐌𝐎 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐬. Here are 5 metrics your PMO should be tracking that executives actually care about: 🔹 1. 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – Are the promised business outcomes being delivered after project completion? Track actual benefits vs. forecasted. 🔹 2. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 – What percentage of active projects directly support one or more strategic goals? If the PMO isn’t aligned to strategy, it's just busywork. 🔹 3. 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐨 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 – Measure value delivered across the full portfolio (e.g., cost savings, revenue growth, efficiency gains), not just project success. 🔹 4. 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 – How quickly are projects delivering usable value? Not just "on time," but how fast are results feltby the business? 🔹 5. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐔𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 – Are your best resources working on the most valuable initiatives, or spread too thin across low-priority efforts? 📊 Tracking these shifts the PMO from a project tracking function to a value-driving partner. 👉 Let’s stop managing to timelines and start managing to impact. 🤔 Has your PMO struggled to convey value to executives? What metrics have made a difference in how your PMO demonstrates value? ♻️ Repost if you liked the content of this post! _________________ 🔔 Ring the bell to follow me on LinkedIn for topics on #ProjectManagement, #ProgramManagement, #PMO, #BusinessTransformation, #CareerTips, and #Leadership. #ProjectManager #ProjectManagementProfessional #BusinessValue #StrategicExecution #KPIs #PortfolioManagement #StrategyRealization