The discussion of estimating, managing, risk handling, and performance measurement are all focused on Increasing the Probability of Project Success. But what is project success and how can it be assessed. Here's a collection of papers that have helped me think about that question.
- Project Success: A Multidimensional Strategy Concept, Aaron J. Shenhar, Dov Dvir, Ofer Levy, and Alan C. Maltz, Long Range Planning 34 (2001) pp. 699-725.
- Understanding Project Performance; the Four-Level Project Success Framework, E. M. Howsawi, D. Eager, and R. Bagia, Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE IEEM, 2011.
- Performance Evaluation of IT Projects - The Shenhar Dvir Model, Special Issue Selected Papers from ALTEC 2011, Journal of Technology Management Innovation, 2013, Volume 8, Special Issue ALTEC.
- What is Strategic Project Leadership?, Aaron Shenhar
- Why Projects Fail, How Contigency Theory can provide new insights - a comparitive anlaysis of NASA Mars Climate Orbiter Loss, Brian J. Sauser, Richard R. Reilly, Aaron J. Shenhar, International of Project Management, 27 (2009), pp. 665-679.
- What Great Projects Have In Common, Dov Dvir and Aaron Shenhar, MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring 2011, Vol. 52, No. 3.
- Meeting Time, Cost, and Money Making Goals with Startegic Project Leadership, Aaron Shenhar.
- Quantifying the Value of IT Investments, C. Verhoef, Science of Computer Programming, Volume 56, Issue 3, June 2005, pp. 315-342.
With these concepts in hand, you'll be better prepared to ask questions about any proposed process conjectured to improve the performance of projects in any domain.
