It seams too obvious to talk about, but remember that behind each and every project there is a business with its’ goals and strategy. And businesses work on money.
In order to do a successful project you have to understand the business. Know what basic principle makes this business run, who is involved in its’ ecosystem and how they interact.
To understand business you can dig through the Internet and talk to the people involved. I would also suggest to draw a business-model canvas that will help you to ask right questions but also make sense of answers.