A case study of Techcorp –

Evaluation of the project success.

Essential Skills for the Project Manager

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In what ways was the project a success and in what ways could it be considered a
failure? If you were the project manager, would you be happy with the work you did?
Would this view be shared by all stakeholders?’

Efficient project management is commonly considered the driving force behind any endeavour.
Although every commerce project strives to achieve business value and contribute to the company’s
growth, it is often difficult and complex to assess the project’s success. A multi-dimensional approach
must be taken in order to evaluate project’s outcome from the perspective of various stakeholders
(Newton 2009: 197). This report will aim to analyse the application of relevant project management
techniques based on the study of Techcorp’s new product development.

A significant amount of research has been carried out on the subject of assessing project success,
including those by Newton (2009), Shenhar et al. (2001) and Baccarini (1999). Newton (2009: 190)
highlights the lack of one universal definition of a project’s success. Prior to the debate, author
distinguishes between success criteria and critical success factors (CSFs). A further explanation of all
terms can be found in the Glossary. Ultimately, a project may be considered successful achieving one
or more of the following:

1 Meeting time and cost constraints against an agreed plan

2 Meeting the specification or requirements and the quality of output
3 The successful approach and quality of work undertaken
4 Achievement of business value by a project
5 Meeting stakeholder’s perceived needs as defined by their levels of satisfaction
6 Meeting the stakeholder’s needs as opposed to rigidly holding to the defined specification
7 Optimising the choice of project
Figure 1. Definitions of success. Sourced from: Newton 2009: 191. The categories are not mutually
exclusive and the project outcome can be classified based on combinations of the above points.

Therefore, a project might have various ‘levels of success or failure’ depending on the viewpoint
(Newton: 192). Baccarini (1999) identifies the project management success and the product success
being the fundaments of a successful project. Shenhar et al. emphasize in their study the four major
success dimensions and measures, as shown in Figure 2, opposing to the traditional approach of
meeting time, budget and performance goals (2001: 699).

Project efficiency Meeting schedule goal

1

Impact on the customer
Direct business and organisational
success
Meeting budget goal
Meeting functional performance
Meeting technical specifications
Fulfilling customer needs
Solving a customer’s problem
The customer is using the product
Customer satisfaction
Commercial success
Creating a large market share

Preparing for the future Creating a new market

Creating a new product line
Developing a new technology
Figure 2. Four success dimensions and their measures. Sourced from: Shenkhar 2001: 712.

In order to estimate the case of Techcorp’s project success, this study will base on the Shenkhar’s
approach to the project assessment. Figure 3 illustrates an evaluation of Techcorp’s project outcome.

Project efficiency Success Failure

Meeting schedule goal Successfully met the schedule -
Meeting budget goal - Budget overran by 8%
Impact on the customer
Meeting technical Despite a number of problems -
specifications successfully launched the
product
Customer satisfaction - Customer complaints
- Low customer satisfaction
- Higher customer churn
Direct business and
organisational success
Commercial success Techcorp’s share prices rose -
significantly
Creating a large market Company captured significant -
share market share, the new product
enabled growth
Preparing for the future
Operational costs - High operational costs,
- Series of product
enhancement projects
Creating a new product - The company’s product had a
high fault rate
Figure 3. Evaluation of successful and unsuccessful aspects of Techcorp’s project

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The table above indicates that number of unsuccessful aspects of Techcorp’s project surpasses the
favourable ones. It can be noted that the endeavour brought only short-term positive outcomes.
Furthermore, one year after the project’s completion the company had to face multiple
unpredictable, external factors negatively affecting the company’s position on the market, such as
competitors merges and successes and the stock market volatility. The considered project failed to
secure a stable growth and a firm market possession.

Following this approach, the case of Techcorp’s new product development wouldn’t be considered
successful in the long-term. Acting as a project manager, I wouldn’t be gratified with the result of my
work. In my opinion, the compromises made throughout the project negatively affected the quality
of the final product. The increased risk of failure resulted in the higher fault rate and decreased
customer satisfaction. Assuming that the purpose of a business venture is to create economic value
and competitive advantage, Techcorp’s project failed to boost the customer demand for the
company’s product. Especially, considering the fact that the new venture was strategically crucial for
the business to thrive.

However, this view wouldn’t necessarily be shared by all stakeholders. The case study introduces
several entities interested in the project. As individuals, the stakeholders have their own perception
of success, based on either rational measures or purely personal view (Newton 2009: 196). A project
manager usually evaluates the project’s success on the principles of the time, cost and the scope
defined. In the Techcorp’s case, the company was able to complete the project within the 12
months, which is less than primarily assumed. Effective work and the project handling by the
executive team have been awarded a special bonus by the shareholders. Also the staff, having
received their full bonus would consider the project a success. Techcorp’s CEO, the sponsor of the
venture (or the budget holder) would consider the cost overrun a failure, however, the requested
deadline have been met. Nonetheless, high customer churn and low satisfaction appears to be a
significant failure. Excessive fault rate and resulting complaints would contribute to the negative
customer assessment of the final product. Also, a broader stakeholder group might be attracted by
meeting the projects business case and achieving sufficient value for the business. In this case, the
shareholder group, primarily pleased with meeting the project’s deadline, after a year of completion
would be dissatisfied with the falling share prices. The above analysis clearly illustrates the diversity
of opinion stakeholders may have on the same project, even assessing the simplest dimensions of
success – the iron triangle of quality, time and cost. Additionally, the passage of time significantly
influences perception of a project.

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Drawing upon relevant project management theory, suggest how the project could
have been run better to improve the level of success?’

A theory of the project lifecycle (PLC) can be applied in the project management process in order to
aid structuring the work on a project (Newton 2009). Adams et al. (1988) distinguish the four phases
of the PLC, being: conceptualisation, planning, execution and termination (Ward and Chapman 1995).
Each of these may be further divided into stages and steps, as illustrated in Figure 4:

Figure 4. Phases, stages and steps in the project lifecycle. Sourced from Ward and Chapman (1995)

Figure 5 shows a typical project lifecycle separated into its basic stages:

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Figure 5. Typical Project lifecycle. Sourced from Maxwideman 2000. Figure lists activities expected
in each stage and the key decision points (known as gates and milestones) for the executive
control. They may be used as opportunities to revise the progress of the project and initialize
decisions on the future of the project

The implementation of the project lifecycle theory may bring tangible benefits, such as clarification
of the structure, improved control, consistency and uniform vocabulary (Ellis 2013). In the initial,
conceptual stage, a variety of steps needs to be undertaken, including project identification, scoping
(establishing requirements, stakeholders, CSFs, objectives), the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
and the project team determined. An important part of this stage is to establish the project
constraints, often referring to the ‘iron triangle’ of cost, time and quality (Cleland and Ireland 2010).
The Techcorp’s project failed to found the timeline at the very beginning, relying on the special
bonus as the driving factor for the team to complete the task on time. Also, the impact of changes to
the constraints needs to be taken into account. The decisions made by Techcorp’s project manager
disturbed the relative balance between these three dimensions, resulting in a poor quality of the
product. The project constraints need to be establish at the initial stage, in order to aid the
managerial process to evaluate, decide on, recommend and accept or reject the relevant aspect of
the project (Ellis 2013). Establishing a mission statement and recognising the CSFs is necessary for the
project to achieve its goals. The next step in the efficient project management is organising task into
a logical order, including the time and resources allocation through a Work Breakdown Structure. The
Techcorp’s study failed to present any detailed work outline, examining only the financial and
timeline aspects. Additionally, the Techcorp’s study exposes the importance of performing an
appropriate Critical Path Analysis. In the considered case, revisiting the plan and achieving final board

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approval took Techcorp 2 months, resulting in the corresponding delay of the product launch.
Furthermore, this interruption of the original plan has raised the number of compromises to be
made. Establishing task dependencies could have helped reducing the delay. Appropriate allocating
time to activities would minimise the degree of risk related to the business activity and increase the
level of preparedness. However, identifying business risks can only be undertaken when the business
context is understood, thus the significance of developing a detailed scope of the project in the
planning phase. During the execution stage the company had to face a number of technical and
commercial problems. Therefore, it is crucial to capture risk and uncertainty and record them in a risk
register tailored to the task undertaken. Techcorp’s case study lacks identifying the risks and
opportunities to the objectives and using the information gained from the business analysis to act as
prompts (Chapman 2012). An effective operational risk management process can be illustrated as
follows:

Establishing the content - Gather the relevant information

Risk Identification – Begin tasks in which you can identify the risk

Risk Analysis – Begin to quantify the risks and opportunities

Risk Evaluation – Establish the net effects of the risk and opportunities

Risk Treatment – Plan a response and implement

Monitoring and Reviewing – Ensure actions are carried out effectively

Communication and Consultation – Effectively communicating across all stages

Figure 6. Stages in the risk management process. Sourced from: Ahmed 2013

In order to increase the success rate of a project and aid directing project managers in handling
project tasks, a certain project management methodologies may be implemented (Elkington and
Smallman 2002). PRINCE2 is a flexible project management methodology based on the product and
can be used to manage and control projects of all kinds and sizes (APMG 2013). This methodology,

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being rationally based on the best practices in project management, provides high standardization
and an opportunity to improve competence. The Techcorp’s project could have been managed more
efficiently if such a method was implemented and exercised a level of control over start, execution
and closure of the project, adapting to its special needs. PRINCE2 methodology clearly identifies the
possible causes of project failure, being amongst others, a lack of distinction between the objectives
and the outcomes of the project. Techcorp failed to precisely define the product quality criteria and
customer requirements. The company demonstrated a poor understanding of customer needs and
expectations. An application of project management methodologies like PRINCE2 in all stages of the
project lifecycle and regarding the above factors would provide with a comprehensible framework
for actions and improve Techcorp’s level of success.

Reflect upon the skills required for the role of a project manager. What skills do you
think you already have and what skills do you think you need to develop in order to
become an effective project manager?’

Developing a diverse set of skills, attributes and experiences by a project manager is essential in
ensuring successful management performance (El-Sabaa 2001). A recent study on the project
management techniques reveals the industry's growing ‘awareness of the relationship between
achieving project success and construction of project management competencies’ (Hwang and Wei
2013). Fisher (2011) emphasizes the importance of the soft skills, basing his view on the combination
of literature and empirical remarks from the practitioners. The findings of El-Sabaa’s study highlight
the greatest influence of the human skills on the project management practices, as illustrated in
Figure 7:

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Figure 7. Relative importance of Project manager skills for All sectors. Sourced from: El-Sabaa 2001:
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The research identifies 3 main areas of skills, development of which is vital for the efficient project
management. The human skills include: mobilization, communication, coping with situations,
delegation of authority, political sensitivity, high-self esteem and enthusiasm. Achieving the score of
85.3% there are seem as the most important in adept obtaining the project’s goals. The conceptual
and organisational skills include planning, organising, having strong goal orientation, ability to see the
project as a whole, capability to visualize the relationship of the individual project to the industry and
the community and strong problem orientation. Amongst the technical skills the author lists
specialized knowledge in the use of tools and techniques, project knowledge, understanding
methods, process and procedures, the technology required, and computer skills (El-Sabaa 2001).
According to Fisher (2011) skills such as understanding behavioural characteristics, leading and
influencing others, authentizotic behaviour, conflict management and cultural awareness are the
ones of ‘paramount importance and the catalyst to being an effective people project manager’.

Reflecting on the mixture of academic background and professional experience I already have, there
are three main skills and competencies of a project manager role I possess, namely the
communication, organisational and interpersonal skills. I have obtained proficiency in these aspects

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through a variety or representative roles I have been undertaking. The communication skills might be
seem as especially significant, as the recent research suggest that a typical project manager spends
approximately 85% of their time communicating (Brandeis University 2012). Ability to competently
connect between all the stakeholders and internally between the employees can be seem as
especially important in the light of creating a good and effective working environment. My ability to
successfully manage people resources might be implemented in any type of project and significant
factor of the project success.

The areas I consider needing a further improvement by study, training or experience would be
developing an in-depth knowledge of project management methodologies, risk assessment and
management techniques as well as the ability to set the strategic objectives. All of these technical
factors are crucial for archiving positive business result, as organisations of all types and sizes require
addressing these aspect during all phases of the project lifecycle. Familiarising and implementing of
the already established frameworks may significantly aid the decision process at the organisational
level, thus expanding my technical skills and the knowledge of methodologies like PRINCE2, agile or
waterfall would improve my managerial skills. A good understanding of the risk assessment
frameworks like FEMA or SMUG could be universally implemented within a variety of risk a project
may encounter.

An efficient project manager needs to be versatile in the skills, accept changes and actively shape
their work. Utilising the skills and competencies I already have and developing others further would
help me become efficient at managing people and deliver lucrative projects in the ever more
demanding and competitive working environments.

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List of References

Ahmed, A. (2013) Corporate Risk [online lecture] module 209 GED, 20 October 2013. Coventry:
Coventry University. available from
<http://cumoodle.coventry.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=195986&redirect=1> [5
December 2013]

APMG (2013) PRINCE2 [online] available from <http://www.prince-officialsite.com/> [3 December

2013]

Baccarini, D. (1999) ‘The logical framework method for defining project success’ Project Management
Journal [online] 30 (4), 25-32. available from
<http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c60ae69f-cf47-410a-86e5-
0c9ca0598232%40sessionmgr198&vid=2&hid=114> [3 December 2013]
Brandeis University (2012) Balancing Project Management Hard Skills and Soft Skills [online] available
from
<http://projectmgmt.brandeis.edu/downloads/BRU_MSMPP_WP_Feb2012_Balancing_Proj
ect_Management.pdf> [5 December 2013]
Chapman, R. J. (2012) Simple Tools and Techniques for Enterprise Risk Management. 2nd edn.
Chichester: John Wiley & Sons
Cleland, D. I. and Ireland, L. R. (2010) Project manager’s handbook [online] 3rd edn. New York:
McGraw-Hill. available from <http://lib.myilibrary.com/Open.aspx?id=296521&src=0> [5
December 2013]

Elkington, P. and Smallman, C. (2002) ‘Managing project risks: a case study from the utilities sector’
International Journal of Project Management [online] 20 (1), 49-57. available from
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026378630000034X> [5 December
2013]
Ellis, D. (2013) Project lifecycle [online lecture] module A200SAM, 14 October 2013. Coventry:
Coventry University. available from
<http://cumoodle.coventry.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=173966&redirect=1> [6
December 2013]

El-Sabaa, E. (2001) ‘The skills and career path of an effective project manager’ International Journal
of Project Management [online] 19 (1), 1-7. available from

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 <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786399000344> [5 December
2013]
Fisher, E. (2011) ‘What practitioners consider to be the skills and behaviours of an effective people
project manager’ International Journal of Project Management [online] 29 (1), 994- 1002.
available from <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786310001316> [5
December 2013]
Hwang, B. And Wei, J. N. (2013) ‘Project management knowledge and skills for green construction:
Overcoming challenges’ International Journal of Project Management [online] 31 (1), 272-
284. available from
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786312000658> [5 December
2013]
Maxwideman (2000) The Project Life Cycle: Four Basic Phases [online] available from
<http://www.maxwideman.com/papers/managing/lifecycle.htm> [4 December 2013]

Newton, R. (2009) The practice and Theory of Project Management. 1st edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan

PRINCE2 (2009) PRINCE2:2009 – Glossary of Terms (English) [online] available from

<http://www.prince-officialsite.com/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.aspx?lID=1486&sID=557> [3
December 2013]
Shenhar, A. J., Dvir, D., Levy, O., and Malt, A. C. (2001) ‘Project Success: A Multidimensional Strategic
Concept’ Long RangePlanning [online] 34 (1), 699–725. available from <
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024630101000978> [4 December
2013]
Ward, S. and Chapman, C. B. (1995) ‘Risk-management perspective on the project lifecycle’
International Journal of Project Management [online] 12 (3), 145- 149. available from <
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/026378639500008E#> [8 December
2013]

Glossary

Business Case The justification for an organizational activity (project), which

typically contains costs, benefits, risks and timescales, and against
which continuing viability is tested.

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CSFs Critical Success Factors – factors that have been identified to assist in making a
specific project successful

PRINCE2 A method that supports some selected aspects of project

management. The acronym stands for PRojects IN a Controlled
Environment.

Project lifecycle The period from the start-up of a project to the acceptance of the
(PLC) project product.

Project Sponsor The main driving force behind a programme or project.

Risk An uncertain event or set of events that, should it occur, will have
an effect on the achievement of objectives. A risk is measured by a
combination of the probability of a perceived threat or opportunity
occurring, and the magnitude of its impact on objectives.

Scope For a plan, the sum total of its products and the extent of their
requirements. It is described by the product breakdown structure for
the plan and associated Product Descriptions.

Stakeholder Any individual, group or organization that can affect, be affected by,
or perceive itself to be affected by, an initiative (programme,
project, activity, risk).

WBS Work Breakdown Structure

Based on: PRINCE2 2009

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