Date of Award

2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Business Administration

First Advisor

Dale E. Mahan

Second Advisor

Luke B. Bobo

Third Advisor

Shawn Haghighi

Abstract

Project managers are continually in pursuit of a magic formula that will deliver a successful project. Companies arc interested in formulas for project success because billions of dollars arc wasted each year, in U.S.A. Information Technology projects alone. through poorly managed or failed projects. Failing projects arc not only bad for the individual project team members, but a failed project's impacts emanate outward to cause companies to decline or die. In addition, the targeted customers who receive inferior products, late products, or no products at all (due to project failures) are significantly impacted as well. Because failed computer technology projects arc not isolated to the U.S.A., ultimately the entire world economy would be benefited by the identification of reliable critical success factors.

This study investigates, through a meta analysis of current research and literature, the existence of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that influence the ability to deliver successful projects. Twenty-nine literature sources, from three different categories of literature (Researchers, Orgarizations, and Experts) were used as input to the analysis. The results obtained from the analysis yielded seventeen CSFs which contribute to the success of a project.

  1. Project management
  2. Clear goals and objectives
  3. Project team competence
  4. Requirements management
  5. User & stakeholder involvement
  6. Senior management support
  7. Organization change management
  8. Architecture and design
  9. 360 degree communication
  10. Quality management
  11. Iterative & incremental development
  12. Product development life cycle
  13. Interdepartmental cooperation
  14. Expectation management
  15. Individual and team attitudes
  16. Risk management
  17. Vendor management

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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