“Is there a one-size-fits-all project management practice? “How can I find a solution to all my problems?” “Why do I always use the same method, but some projects are delayed?” … In many Agile groups, these questions are often asked. Is there one solution to all problems? The answer is: no, because there is no silver bullet.

Back in 1986, Fred Brooks argued academically that there is no silver bullet to solve the software crisis. Why is that? The most fundamental reason is that software itself has the following inherent characteristics:

  • Complexity: The software complexity will show nonlinear growth with the scale, resulting in project cost overrun, personnel status out of sync, poor functional availability, complex structure and other problems;
  • Consistency: The software system needs to interact with the existing system, which requires the interface of the new software system to be consistent with the original software system;
  • Variability: because external factors such as user demand and market are constantly changing, software is required to have variability;
  • Invisibility: Everyone has a different understanding of the software, requirements, or tasks, which can make communication incredibly difficult.

These features can create challenges in software delivery projects, reduce team effectiveness, and even lead to project failure.

We are not without solutions to these challenges. While there are no silver bullets in software delivery projects, project success is the result of a combination of factors. By identifying the factors that affect the project process and acting on them immediately, we can drive the success rate of the project. We can drive project success by thinking in a way that builds the team’s project success equation:

From the project success equation above, we can know that whether the project is successfully delivered depends on the threshold value of each factor. In a project, the low bound factors will determine the upper limit of the overall project. In other words, if every factor in the project can be raised from 1 to 1.01, multiplying many of the items will also yield huge results. On the other hand, if you reduce each item to 0.99, such as rough management “a little bit”, lower value “a little bit”, slow action “a little bit”… Such a project would be riddled with holes.

So how do you go from factor 1 to factor 1.01 in a project? The following action paths can help:

Product value is the most special part of the overall project success equation: project success is meaningful only if the product produces value.

Project success formula is only help project managers better think of a way to project success is influenced by many factors, the above listed, not affect all factors in the success of the project, so project team members can according to their own experiences and lessons, continuously expand the project successful formula, to improve the way of project management team. Join us to find best practices for each project.