Learning from projects 139 Determining if a project is successful or not The basis for learning is to understand whether something is successful or not ­ if you do not know this you cannot draw useful conclusions. Many factors and different viewpoints have to be taken into account. Determining if a project is successful should be linked to the success criteria for the project, but expectations change as projects progress and success criteria are not always adapted in line with changing expectations. Far from being an objective fact, determining success is often a subjective judgement. Considerations in determining if a project was successful or not are: 1 Review the tangible success criteria ­ have they been met, and does it