The project area is not properly valued in many organizations because generally the company’s projects are spread across
several other areas. However, it is necessary to know how the projects and the project management provide the means for
organizations to achieve their goals. The goal of this study is to understand the influence of success and failure factors on
starting, developing and closing projects. Although many studies have explored success factors in projects, a few of them have
included the perception of formulation and classification of what really are a successful project and/or a failure project. This
paper considers the perception of success and failure by project managers through interviews and questionnaires made in
Brazilian companies. Firstly, a theoretical survey on this topic was performed. Secondly, qualitative analysis was applied to
group some important aspects of the interviews and questionnaires. Thirdly, the results of the answers were investigated
through statistical analysis to confirm the positioning of all the respondents. The analysis of the interviews might be used to
better understand the management perception about the determinant factors of success and failure of the companies surveyed
and a reflection of what happens in Brazilian IT industry.