This paper provides some thoughts about success criteria for IS±IT project management. Cost,
time and quality (The Iron Triangle), over the last 50 years have become inextricably linked with
measuring the success of project management. This is perhaps not surprising, since over the same
period those criteria are usually included in the description of project management. Time and
costs are at best, only guesses, calculated at a time when least is known about the project. Quality
is a phenomenon, it is an emergent property of peoples dierent attitudes and beliefs, which
often change over the development life-cycle of a project. Why has project management been so
reluctant to adopt other criteria in addition to the Iron Triangle, such as stakeholder bene®ts
against which projects can be assessed? This paper proposes a new framework to consider success
criteria, The Square Route. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved