8 Principles for Project Success
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) in the UK has suggested 8 principles for project success – basic truths to be used to guide thinking and behaviour in project delivery. They are:
- Focus on outcomes
- Plan realistically
- Prioritise people and behaviour
- Tell it like it is
- Control scope
- Manage complexity and risk
- Be an intelligent client
- Learn from experience
The principles are designed as short, memorable headlines. They are deliberately action-focused: the aim is for them to be easy to understand, no matter what kind of project you are working on. They aim to help project professionals deliver government projects successfully, but are obviously equally applicable to the private sector.
The first four focus on the set-up phase, which we know from extensive research and experience is often rushed and under-funded in a dash to get the project started. So it’s good to see this emphasis on this critical stage of any project – and a focus on openness, clarity of purpose, behaviours.
The tell it like it is principle of realism, honesty and being prepared to act if something isn’t working is often a tough ask with the competition for work and funding. How often have we seen this conspiracy of optimism, where everyone knows that the cost and/or schedule is simply not achievable – but we go ahead anyway?
It’s a useful checklist or a basis for principles to be adopted on your project. The full document can be found on the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) website.