Arash Shahin - Department of Management, University of Isfahan
Mehdi Jamshidian - Department of Management, University of Isfahan

Today more and more project managers consider performance to be the most important objective. Performance can be assured by identifying and eliminating the factors that cause poor project outcomes. Thus, project managers need better understanding of critical success/failure factors and how to measure them. Only a few studies in the project management literature concentrate on the critical factors that affect project success or failure. Whereas many of these studies generate different lists of critical success factors (CSF), each list varies in its scope and purpose and lacking a comprehensive list makes it difficult not only for project managers but also for researchers to evaluate projects based on these factors. In this paper authors have made a comprehensive literature review on CSF in project and project management. Some models and techniques such as project excellence have been demonstrated and discussed precisely. Major findings imply that i) although proposing comprehensive lists of CSF might involve considerable advantages, different factors should be considered for different projects; ii) different CSF should be considered with respect to different stages of project life cycle; iii) project and project success factors could be classified according to their sources (i.e. organizational or external environmental factors); and iv) advanced models and techniques could be modified and developed in order to facilitate the evaluation of project CSF.

Project, Management, Critical Success Factors, Excellence, Model