ISO 21502 and Success Management: A Required Marriage in Project Management

Abstract

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) provides standards that support organizations and professionals in several fields. The ISO 21502:2020 is a standard that focuses on concepts and practices of project management. “Success” is referenced in several sections of the standard, including guidance towards the need to define criteria to measure project success. However, despite the significant changes in the new version of the standard, formal activities for carrying out Success Management have still not been included. Aiming to contribute to filling this gap, this article describes how Success Management activities can be integrated into the ISO project management standard. The research method was design science research. The main result is an integrated model of Success Management and ISO 21502:2020 project management practices. The proposed model expands the Success Management body of knowledge and, in practice, provides the project management team with the basis for planning, controlling, and reporting the project’s success together with ISO 21502:2020.