Understanding the Five Immutable Principles of project success will help project managers to deliver on-time and on-budget when managing any project in any domain
IEEE Computer Society’s Strategic Activities and Products including SWEBOK Guide
The Five Immutable Principles of Project DSuccess
1. 1
The Five Immutable
Principles of
Project Success
Produced in conjunction
with Glen B. Alleman
A Guide for Capital Project Managers
2. 2 3
Understanding the 5 key
principles to project success will
help project managers deliver
on time and on budget when
tackling projects of any size, in
any domain.
The concepts discussed
throughout this guide present a
framework, to allow the reader
to search for answers in any
number of different scenarios
and situations.
Contents
▪▪ WHAT DOES PROJECT SUCCESS MEAN?
▪▪ FIRST PRINCIPLE: Identify Needed Capabilities – what does done
look like?
▪▪ SECOND PRINCIPLE: Establish Technical and Operational
Requirements Baseline – how do you get to done?
▪▪ THIRD PRINCIPLE: Establish Performance Measurement Baseline
– is there enough time, money, and resources to get to done?
▪▪ FOURTH PRINCIPLE: Perform Continuous Risk Management –
what obstacles will be encountered on the way to done?
▪▪ FIFTH PRINCIPLE: Execute the Performance Measurement
Baseline – how do you measure the progress of the project from
beginning to done?
▪▪ CHECKLIST SUMMARY
▪▪ FINAL WORDS
Project Management Expert
Glen B. Alleman
Niwot Ridge Consulting, LLC
Foreword
5
6
10
14
18
22
26
28
3. 4 5
What Does Project
Success Mean?
The successful management
of capital projects, requires
initiating, planning, executing,
and managing resources
effectively to complete specific
deliverables within time and
budget.
To keep pace with the demands
of capital projects, many project
leaders will enlist the help of
unified project management
tools, which can transform
management of even the most
complex mega projects.
These tools, however intelligent,
are only as useful as the
framework they inhabit, which
is where understanding the 5
principles of project success
becomes important. These five
principles enable project leaders
to envision the entire project
from start to finish, manage
resources and risks effectively,
and clearly measure and convey
progress to decision makers.
The five principles are expressed as a series of questions
that relate to "done" – where done represents the successful
completion of the project within time, budget, and attaining all
project requirements.
1. Do you have a clear and concise description and
understanding of what done looks like?
2. Do you have a plan or strategy to reach done on time, on
budget?
3. Do you have the resources needed to execute this plan?
How much time and money is needed to reach done?
4. What could possibly go wrong? Have you defined how
you’re going to remove, avoid, or handle risks?
5. Do you measure progress to plan in units meaningful to the
decision maker?
This guide provides a high-level description of the five
immutable principles of project success, including detailed
infographics and best practices and processes critical to
producing actionable information for project leaders.
4. 6 7
Identify Needed
Capabilities
▪▪ We need the capability to
remove 1½ hours from our
supply chain ordering process
once the merger of our two
firms is complete.
▪▪ We need the capability to
change the Wide Field Camera
and the internal nickel hydride
batteries, while doing no harm
to the telescope.
▪▪ We need the capability to
dock four oil tankers at the
pier and unload their cargo in
18 hours, while operating the
ground transportation system
concurrently.
▪▪ We need the capability to
control the Hell Fire Missile
with a new touch panel while
maintaining existing navigation
and guidance capabilities in
the helicopter.
FIRST PRINCIPLE
WHAT DOES DONE LOOK LIKE?
Identifying system capabilities is the starting point for any successful
project. Capabilities enable project leaders to envision what the
completed project will look like, what will be required of that project,
and what done looks like.
EXAMPLES OF POTENTIAL CAPABILITIES:
▪▪ How are capabilities delivered? ▪▪ What are the technical and
operational requirements
needed to implement each
capability?
EVEN AT THIS EARLY PLANNING STAGE, THERE ARE
QUESTIONS THAT REQUIRE CONSIDERATION:
Without defining the requisite
capabilities, it is unclear whether
the mission will be a success,
and without a clear and concise
description of what done looks
like, it is impossible to provide
these requisite capabilities on,
or near, schedule and cost. This
is where a Capabilities Based
Plan (CBP) can be employed to
help identify programme needs,
allocate resources, and track
activities and outcomes.
The paradigm of a CBP
recognises the interdependence
of systems, strategy, organisation,
and support in delivering the
capability. As well as the need to
examine options and trade-offs,
in terms of performance, cost,
and risk, to identify optimum
development investments.
An effective CBP relies on use-
cases and scenarios, as well as
the project leader’s prowess, to
provide the context to measure
the level of maturity for each
capability.
▪▪ Why is this requirement
present?
▪▪ Why is this requirement
needed?
▪▪ What business or mission
value does fulfilling this
requirement provide?
Project leaders may not know the answers to capability questions in
the early stages of the project. But by utilising a CBP they can help to
provide a home for all the requirements, enabling them to answer the
questions of:
6. 10 11
Establish Technical
and Operational
Requirements Baseline
SECOND PRINCIPLE
HOW DO YOU GET TO
DONE?
Poorly formed requirements
have been shown to contribute
as much as 25% to the failure
modes of programmes and
projects.
Project requirements are
conditions or tasks that must
be completed to ensure project
success, and must be defined
prior to the start of work so
that they are incorporated
into the project design. If the
requirements are poorly defined,
the design may not satisfy
necessary criteria, which will
result in failure in getting to
done.
System Requirements Analysis
(SRA) is a structured, organised,
process for determining project
requirements, and this process
must be used in order to
reduce the chance of failure.
By accurately identifying the
necessary project requirements
it’s possible to create a sound
basis for project design.
The project requirements are
meant to align the project’s
resources with the objectives
of the organisation, proving a
blueprint for project leaders to
work from. For this reason, to
ensure that project leaders are
successful it’s critical that these
requirements are be quantifiable,
relevant, and detailed.
The requirements engineering
process breaks down the
statement of customer
expectations through a
systematic explanation of what
that system must do to satisfy
that expectation. It is critical
to ensure that this customer
expectation is the ultimate
system requirement from which
all other requirements and
designs flow.
7. 1312
Process Interface
Requirements
Process Speciality
Requirements
Process Environment
Requirements
SOW&Plans
Enterprise Mission
Statement
Process Functional
Requirements
Process Performance Requirements
Customer Need
Statement
Product Functional
Requirements
Product Performance Requirements
Specifications
Process Interface
Requirements
Process Speciality
Requirements
Process Environment
Requirements
Establish Technical
and Operational
Requirements Baseline
Checklist
PRACTICES
Elicit Technical and Operational
requirements needed for the
capabilities to be fulfilled in the
order that maximises business
value.
PROCESSES TO IMPLEMENT
Perform fact-finding
Gather and classify requirements
Evaluate and rationalise
requirements
Prioritise requirements
Integrate and validate
requirements
There are two fundamental
classes of requirements:
▪▪ Process Performance
Requirements ‒ defines
how the work processes are
used to produce a beneficial
outcome to the customer.
▪▪ Product Performance
Requirements ‒ defines the
product specifications and
how they are related to the
process requirements.
Most requirements methods
focus on product specification;
however, considering the
importance of customer
expectations, it is far better to
focus on process performance
requirements. Concentrating on
the fact-finding, classification,
evaluation and rationalisation,
prioritisation, and integration and
validation of this requirement is
key to success.
Technical and operational
baseline requirements are
imperative because they define
the work packages, planning
packages, and the work
efforts needed to produce the
deliverables from the project.
After all, it is these deliverables
that fulfil the needed technical
and operational capabilities to
the customer and are the catalyst
to get to done.
Originally from: Systems Requirements Practices, Jeffery O. Grady, McGraw Hill, 1993.
8. 14 15
Establish Performance
Measurement Baseline
THIRD PRINCIPLE
IS THERE ENOUGH TIME,
MONEY, AND RESOURES TO
GET TO DONE?
The Performance Measurement
Baseline (PMB) is the primary
assessment document for
assuring the credibility of the
project plan. The PMB is critical
to project success and it is the
baseline of the cost, schedule,
and deliverables for each work
package in the plan.
Constructing the PMB requires
knowledge of the business and
technical requirements, skill in
developing the work packages
that produce the deliverables
for these requirements, and
discipline in assembling the
cost, schedule, and relationships
between the work packages.
Without understanding which
resources are required, work
packages cannot be created and
the PMB will not be accurate.
The discipline of PMB creation
requires the most focus for the
planners and project controls
staff, because, without it, the
development of a credible PMB
is just not possible.
The PMB is where the Measures
of Effectiveness (MOE) and
Measures of Performance
(MOP) are defined, and where
progress to plan is assessed. This
is because, as stated previously,
MOE and MOP are the units
of measure meaningful to the
customer.
Deliverables can be defined in
two ways:
▪▪ What the customer has paid
money for.
▪▪ Containing the business or
technical capabilities – the
associated value that fulfil the
requirements of the business
plan.
The critical success factor
in building the PMB is the
decomposition of the system
requirements into technical
capabilities, then into
deliverables that enable those
technical capabilities, and finally
into the work packages that
produce those deliverables.
Defining the decomposed
deliverables from the needed
system capabilities in a work
breakdown structure is critical
because the decomposition
process must be iterative and
incremental. Assessment of the
validity of this decomposition
requires a significant amount of
thought, and it is likely that the
first decomposition will not be
the overall best approach.
9. 16 17
Establish Performance
Measurement Baseline
Checklist
PRACTICES
Establish a Performance
Measurement Baseline (PMB) ‒ a
time-phased network of work
activities that produces project
deliverables for the planned cost.
PROCESSES TO IMPLEMENT
Decompose scope into small
work packages
Assign responsibility for
deliverables from the work
packages
Develop the budget for the work
packages
Assign work package measures of
performance and effectiveness
Set the Performance
Measurement Baseline
A credible plan and schedule for the delivery of the needed
capabilities on time and on budget has three baselines ‒
technical, schedule, and cost:
Perform
Functional
Analysis
Technical Baseline
Schedule Baseline
Cost Baseline
Determine
Scope and
Approach
Develop
Technical
Logic
Develop
Technical
Baseline
Approve PMB
Develop
WBS
Define
Activities
Estimate Time
Durations
Sequence
Activities
Finalise
Schedule
Finalise
Apportioned
Milestones
Identify
Apportioned
Milestones
Determine
Resource
Requirement
Prepare Cost
Estimate
Resource Load
Schedule
Determine
Funding
Constraints
10. 18 19
Perform Continuous
Risk Analysis
FOURTH PRINCIPLE
WHAT OBSTACLES WILL BE
ENCOUNTERED ON THE WAY
TO DONE?
Continuous risk analysis and
management provides tangible
benefits to increase the
probability of project success.
Utilising powerful and intuitive
schedule and cost risk analysis
for complex projects can:
▪▪ Prevent problems before
they occur, by identifying and
dealing with them early.
▪▪ Improve quality, by focusing
on project objectives and
consciously looking for issues
that effect quality throughout
the project lifecycle.
▪▪ Enable better use of resources,
for early identification of
potential problems.
Continuous risk management can
help project leaders to identify
the obstacles they’re likely to
encounter and how to overcome
them. However, manual risk
assessment can often be a long
and arduous task made-up of
many different stages. This is
why project leaders will often use
project management tools that
deliver advanced risk analysis and
progress through risk stages far
more quickly.
THE STAGES OF RISK MANAGEMENT:
Identify
Identify and classify
risks in a risk register.
Manage this risk
register through a risk
management board.
Connect these risks
and their handling in
the master schedule.
Analyse
Convert risk data into risk
decision-making information.
Use this analysis information as
the decision basis for the project
manager to work on the “right”
risks.
Plan
Turn risk information into
decisions and actions
(both present and future).
Develop actions to address
individual risks, prioritise risk
actions, and create an integrated
risk management plan.
Track
Monitor the status of risks and
actions taken to mitigate risks.
Identify and monitor risks to enable
the evaluation of the status of risks
themselves and of risk mitigation
plans.
Control
Risk communication lies at the
centre of the model to emphasise
both its pervasiveness and its
criticality.
Without effective communication,
no risk management approach can
be viable.
11. 20 21
Perform Continuous
Risk Management
Checklist
PRACTICES
Apply Continuous Risk
Management to programmatic
and technical risks with risk
handling processes to reduce,
remove, or prevent impacts
on the project’s probability of
success.
PROCESSES TO IMPLEMENT
Identify risks
Analyse risks
Plan risk response
Track risk management activities
Control or accept risks
Risk communication lies at the centre of the model to emphasise both
its pervasiveness and its criticality. Without effective communication,
no risk management approach can be viable. Technical risk
management is formed of six interconnected processes which enable
project leaders to make better informed decisions:
Identify
Analyse
Communicate
Plan
Track
Control
Formulation of objectives
hierarchy and technical
performance measures
Proposing and/or
identifying decision
alternatives
Risk analysis of decision
alternatives, performing
trade studies and ranking
Deliberating and
recommending a decision
alternative
Decide and
implement
decision
alternatives
Tracking and controlling
performance deviations
Stakeholder expectations,
requirements definition and
management
Design solutions, technical
planning
Design solution, technical
planning, and decision
analysis
Technical planning and
decision analysis
Decision analysis, lessons
learned, knowledge
management
Technical Risk Management
Track
C
ontrol
Ind
entify
Analyse
Plan
Communicate
Originally from: Software Engineering Institute, Continuous Risk Management, Dorofee, AJ et al., 1996
12. 22 23
Execute the Performance
Measurement Baseline
FIFTH PRINCIPLE
DO YOU KNOW HOW
TO MEASURE PHYSICAL
PROGRESS ON THE PROJECT?
With an established Performance
Measurement Baseline (PMB)
the proper execution becomes
critically important.
The execution process is the
project beat. This means that
the processes are performed in
a repeated and regular manner
– on at least a daily, weekly, or
monthly basis. It is this business
beat that creates actionable
information for the project
manager, on a time scale that
allows corrective actions to be
taken to stay on schedule, on
budget, and assure technical
compliance.
An execution process helps
the project leader to accurately
measure the progress of the
project, because the tangible,
physical deliverables are defined
in the work packages created
during the planning process.
No matter the duration of the
performance assessment, a
measure of physical percent
complete (PPC) is mandatory if
the project manager is to receive
actionable information. The
measures of PPC can be applied
on weekly boundaries in a variety
of ways:
▪▪ Have short-duration tangible
deliverables
▪▪ Have apportioned milestones
to measure progress to plan
from the deliverables
▪▪ Have tasks on a short
deliverable cycle and record
0%/100% complete at the end
of each week
This approach provides the
answer to the question:
▪▪ How long are you willing to
wait before you find out you’re
running late?
To put it simply, the answer to
this question must be short
enough to take corrective action
to stay on schedule. In all cases,
a measure of PPC is mandatory if
the project manager is to receive
actionable information to stay on
schedule getting to done.
The important process here is
to have an agreed-on measure
of performance that is defined
before the work starts.
13. 24 25
Execute the
Performance
Measurement Baseline
Checklist
PRACTICES
Execute the Performance
Measurement Baseline while
assuring planned technical and
operational performance is met.
PROCESSES TO IMPLEMENT
Perform the authorised work in
the planned order
Accumulate and report work
package performance
Analyse work package
performance
Take corrective management
action
Authorise and perform the work according to the plan
(BCWS) described in the network of work packages and
planning packages held in the scheduling tool
Accumulate and report performance data using earned value
(BCWP) and other measures of increasing maturing based
on the assessment of physical percent complete
Analyse the performance data derived from the earned
value metrics and make any adjustments to the network of
work packages
Take management action for any variances to ensure all
deliverables produced by the work packages are on time, on
budget, and on specification
Maintain the performance management baseline (PMB)
throughout the programme's duration for all earned value
parameters
14. 26 27
Checklist Summary
Practices Processes
Identify capabilities needed to achieve the project
objective or an end state for a specific scenario to
accomplish a mission or business outcome.
Define capabilities as operational concepts
Define capabilities with scenarios or use-cases
Assess needs, cost, and risk of the capabilities
simultaneously
Define explicit, balanced, and feasible alternatives.
Generate Technical and Operational requirements
that are needed for the capabilities to be fulfilled in a
manner that maximises business value.
Perform fact-finding
Gather and classify requirements
Evaluate and rationalise requirements
Prioritise requirements
Integrate and validate requirements
Establish a Performance Measurement Baseline
(PMB) ‒ a time-phased network of work activities that
produces project deliverables for the planned cost.
Decompose scope into small work packages
Assign responsibility for deliverables from the work
packages
Develop the budget for the work packages
Assign work package measures of performance and
effectiveness
Set the Performance Measurement Baseline
Apply Continuous Risk Management to programmatic
and technical risks with risk handling processes to
reduce, remove, or prevent impacts on the project’s
probability of success.
Identify risks
Analyse risks
Plan risk response
Track risk management activities
Control or accept risks
Execute the Performance Measurement Baseline
while assuring planned technical and operational
performance is met.
Perform the authorised work in the planned order Accumulate and report work package performance
Analyse work package performance
15. 28 29
Final Words
To summarise, if a project
leader has no plan or available
resources, if risks aren’t handled
correctly, and if there is no way
to measure the progress of the
project, then there can be no
confidence that the project is
going to succeed in getting to
done. Without these elements,
the probability of success is zero.
The five immutable principles
of project success that have
been explained in this guide can,
and should, be applied to all
aspects of project management.
Combining these principles
with a good leadership will
guarantee that project success is
achieved. To aid project leaders
further, utilising unified project
management tools can help bring
together planning, scheduling,
risk analysis, and execution to
ensure complete project and
portfolio management and help
projects get to done.
To find out more about how
project management tools can
help you to manage projects
successfully, contact Safran
today.
16. 30
Glen B. Alleman
Glen B. Alleman is an author, speaker, consultant, and project management expert
with over 30 years’ experience working on software intensive projects. Over his
career, Glen has worked within a range of industries including Enterprise IT, Space,
Defence, Nuclear, and BioPharma, and is the current Vice President of the Program
Planning and Controls consulting practice Niwot Ridge.
Niwot Ridge Consulting, LLC
+1 303 241 9633
glen.alleman@niwotridge.com
Find on LinkedIn
Safran
Safran Software Solutions are unified project management experts and providers
of world-class project management and project risk software. With two decades
of experience creating planning and project controls software, their experience,
expertise and support has ensured project success for many businesses spanning a
range of industries.
www.safran.com