The 5 Principles that lead to Project Success
At Materio, we have spent years intensively studying the ways projects can go off the rails so you don’t have to learn this the hard way. In our research, we found 5 principles that, if followed, ensure operational success. Whether you use software or not, your clients, employees, and partners will be more effective if you provide them with the structure and direction they need to do their jobs (and yes, even clients have an important job: making decisions) by following these principles:
Authority. Organize everything in one place as a reference. Make it so easy and fast for anyone to look up what they need that they never have to ask; they just look it up at the source. Lay these out:
Written scope of work, listing deliverable, quantity, and price.
Plans & visuals, defining the space and what goes where.
Decisions to be made, listing who decides what and by when.
Timeline, showing how long it will take, the order of operations, and who is responsible for each step.
Cross-Alignment. Confusion, delays, and mistakes always arise when there are competing docs: “her invoice says 3 units but the scope says 2!” If unresolved, either the client gets overbilled or you don’t deliver what was promised. Both are bad – so, always comb through to remove conflicts so your source documents agree with each other.
Agility. Things constantly change, so ensure your team can handle it with proactive communication. Remove any chance someone will act on stale info: immediately update your docs. Was a part out of stock and you substituted another? Record the new SKU! Immediately notify whoever needs to know. Find outdated printouts and put them in the trash!
Consistency. Save your mental space for important decisions – make everything else a routine you don’t have to think about. Give yourself and your team clear, unambiguous rails to run down. Write checklists and recipes for common tasks like billing clients every 2 weeks or accepting deliveries.
Commitment. For any method to work, everyone must work in your system, not around it. Introduce your “way of working” to everyone (even your client), why it matters, and ask for their partnership in helping keep everything on track.
By embedding these five principles—Authority, Cross-Alignment, Agility, Consistency, and Commitment—into your business, you create an environment where projects run smoothly, decisions are clear, and surprises are minimized. The goal isn’t just to prevent mistakes; it’s to empower your team, partners, and clients to move with confidence.
At Materio, we believe project success isn’t just about the right tools—it’s about the right approach. Whether you use software to enforce these principles or implement them manually, a structured, well-aligned process will always outperform a chaotic one. Master these, and your projects won’t just stay on track—they’ll thrive.