Success is subjective; it depends on the views of stakeholders, which will change over time and can be opposite to those of other stakeholders (example of a cost-down project which pleases the CFO but has disbenefits for laid-off employees).
So, when does an agile team think it is successful, and at what point? If they agree that it is velocity they will measure themselves against, then velocity is their success measure during the project. But is velocity even meaningful at the project end or some time after the project ends? Most projects are seen as more successful years after they ended (some call this hindsight bias).
Thomas Walenta Thanks for the comment. Yes, it is the responsibility of the agile team to establish what success looks like for the team, and at what point. But a project can never be successful if the end users/customers/shareholders are not happy with it. Value creation, which is often not visible until several years after the project's conclusion, as you have stated. Thank you for the thoughtful submission.
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Steps to fail:
1-talk about project instead of solutions.
2-taking about projects.
3-do not understand that agile is an approach to gain a distinctive competitive advantage. This is gain into agility. So, you have to create metrics for that. Usually you will here about Time to Market, Cycle Time, Lead Time and others.
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1 reply by Akin Fadare
Aug 25, 2025 8:39 PM
Akin Fadare
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Sergio Luis Conte, your comment made me smile. That’s very true indeed. The solution is the objective of all projects. Thanks for sharing the speedy failure framework.
Project & PMO Manager | Research & Enterprise Mentor| GFB HoldingSouth America, Brazil
Defining success in Agile projects is indeed a nuanced endeavor, as what constitutes "success" often varies significantly among different stakeholders. For development teams, success might be measured by technical excellence. Product owners and business stakeholders, on the other hand, typically define success through delivered business value. Given these examples, the project management team plays the role in facilitating a shared understanding, balancing competing priorities, and making necessary trade-offs.
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1 reply by Akin Fadare
Aug 25, 2025 9:23 PM
Akin Fadare
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@francisco
I love the way you have broken down the meaning of success to each member of the scrum team. I recently completed CSM certification, which made your response resonate with me. PO want values for the customer, and the customer wants satisfaction. The developers want to achieve DOD at a consistent pace (self-organizing). But the ultimate success criteria is value delivery for end users/customers.
Steps to fail:
1-talk about project instead of solutions.
2-taking about projects.
3-do not understand that agile is an approach to gain a distinctive competitive advantage. This is gain into agility. So, you have to create metrics for that. Usually you will here about Time to Market, Cycle Time, Lead Time and others.
Sergio Luis Conte, your comment made me smile. That’s very true indeed. The solution is the objective of all projects. Thanks for sharing the speedy failure framework.
Defining success in Agile projects is indeed a nuanced endeavor, as what constitutes "success" often varies significantly among different stakeholders. For development teams, success might be measured by technical excellence. Product owners and business stakeholders, on the other hand, typically define success through delivered business value. Given these examples, the project management team plays the role in facilitating a shared understanding, balancing competing priorities, and making necessary trade-offs.
@francisco
I love the way you have broken down the meaning of success to each member of the scrum team. I recently completed CSM certification, which made your response resonate with me. PO want values for the customer, and the customer wants satisfaction. The developers want to achieve DOD at a consistent pace (self-organizing). But the ultimate success criteria is value delivery for end users/customers.
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