Unclear success criteria. Projects launch without defining what "success" looks like, leading to misaligned expectations, wasted resources, and projects declared "failed" despite delivering value—or "successful" despite delivering none.
This template prevents that. Use it before your project starts, not after.
Purpose: Establish objective, measurable success criteria that all stakeholders agree on before development begins.
Time Required: 2-4 hours with cross-functional stakeholders
Outcome: Clear objectives, key results, baseline measurements, and target metrics
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Project Name | |
| Business Problem | What specific problem does this AI solution address? |
| Executive Sponsor | |
| Project Owner | |
| Target Launch Date | |
| Evaluation Timeline | When will we measure success? (e.g., 30/60/90 days post-launch) |
Complete this statement:
We will consider this project successful if...
"Reduce customer service costs while maintaining or improving customer satisfaction scores."
Why it's good: Specific, outcome-focused, includes quality constraint
"Implement AI chatbot for customer service."
Why it's bad: Activity-focused, not outcome-focused. Doesn't define success.
Define 3-5 key results (metrics) that indicate success. Each must have:
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Metric Name | |
| Why This Matters | How does this metric connect to business value? |
| Baseline (Current) | |
| Minimum Viable | |
| Target | |
| Stretch Goal | |
| Measurement Method | How will we track this? What tools? Who owns it? |
| Measurement Frequency | Daily / Weekly / Monthly |
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Metric Name | |
| Why This Matters | |
| Baseline (Current) | |
| Minimum Viable | |
| Target | |
| Stretch Goal | |
| Measurement Method | |
| Measurement Frequency |
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Metric Name | |
| Why This Matters | |
| Baseline (Current) | |
| Minimum Viable | |
| Target | |
| Stretch Goal | |
| Measurement Method | |
| Measurement Frequency |
Add additional key results as needed (recommended 3-5 total)
Ensure your key results cover multiple dimensions of value. Check which categories your metrics address:
| Category | Example Metrics | Included? (✓) |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Impact | Cost savings, revenue increase, ROI, payback period | |
| Operational Efficiency | Processing time, throughput, error reduction, automation rate | |
| Customer Impact | NPS, CSAT, retention rate, response time, resolution rate | |
| Employee Impact | Time saved, productivity, employee satisfaction, training time | |
| Model Performance | Accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, AUC, latency | |
| Adoption & Engagement | Active users, usage frequency, feature adoption rate | |
| Quality & Accuracy | Defect rate, false positive/negative rate, human override rate |
Leading indicators predict future success (e.g., user adoption rate, model accuracy)
Lagging indicators measure realized outcomes (e.g., cost savings, revenue impact)
Include both types to get early signals AND ultimate business outcomes.
You can't prove improvement without knowing where you started. Measure baselines during project development, not after launch.
| Metric | Baseline Value | Measurement Date | Data Source |
|---|---|---|---|
Ensure all key stakeholders agree on success criteria. Get explicit sign-off.
| Stakeholder | Role | Primary Success Concern | Sign-Off (Date) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Sponsor | What does this stakeholder care most about? | ||
| Business Owner | |||
| Finance | |||
| Operations | |||
| End Users (Rep) | |||
| Other: |
If stakeholders disagree on success criteria, resolve BEFORE starting. Common approach:
When and how will you evaluate success against these criteria?
| Review Milestone | Date | What We'll Evaluate | Who Attends |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-Day Review | Early adoption, leading indicators, initial feedback | ||
| 60-Day Review | Operational metrics, efficiency gains, issue resolution | ||
| 90-Day Review | Full evaluation against all key results, ROI calculation | ||
| Final Assessment | Success declaration, lessons learned, next phase planning |
At what point do we admit this isn't working and pivot or kill the project? Defining failure criteria prevents sunk cost fallacy.
| Failure Condition | Action If Triggered |
|---|---|
| If [metric] does not reach [threshold] by [date]... | Pivot / Kill / Investigate |
Escalation Process: If failure criteria are met, who decides whether to pivot or kill?
_________________________________________________________________
By signing below, all parties agree that these success criteria accurately represent project objectives and will be used to evaluate project outcomes.
| Name / Role | Signature | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Executive Sponsor: | ||
| Project Owner: | ||
| Finance Representative: | ||
| Business Owner: |