Projects, success, and complexity

Abstract

Any project needs an understanding of success. Without one, any project outcome would do. Measures of success are needed for the fundamental navigation of projects. Projects have notoriously struggled with the definition of success. One main reason for measuring success is to understand how to do things better the next time. Therefore, the success of a given project needs to be seen in relation to how difficult the project was. Project complexity is a relevant measure of the difficulty of a given project. In other words, project success should be seen relative to the complexity of the project. This paper analyzes relationships between Project Success and Complexity using the Cynefin framework as a lens.