68 Managing projects Discoveringsuccesscriteria The word discovering is used deliberately. Although success criteria may seem obvious, it is only after some time that they are fully understood. Success is a slippery concept and opinions on it vary. Having success criteria enables you to answer the question ­ how will you know when you have achieved your objective? If you can't answer this question, it is impossible to know if you are doing the right things. Answering this question at the start ensures that the project is designed to meet the success criteria. It is easy to assume you have achieved an objective because you have done some tasks, but to be really successful you need to have some way of measuring the impact of the actions you have taken. Some examples of success criteria are: