Pat,

There are some excellent books out there on Project Management, among them Bob Lewis' Bare Bones Project Management, and I've read a few of them recently just to refresh and hone my skills.
What your subject points to is the lack of a definition and agreement by all parties as to what defines success, all preliminary and the final project closure success. If this is clearly spelled out and agreed upon by all, you know where your project is supposed to go and what it is to result in. Its more of things under #4, which I feel should be #1.

George