Project management

In an ideal world, every IT project would succeed. However, a new study underscores how a lack of project management oversight can undo IT projects.

64% report they have established a formal project management office. The IT PMO (34%) is the most popular type of PMO, up from 28% in 2015. Enterprise PMO adoption increased to 29% from 17% in 2015.

Just over half (55%) admit they have experienced a failed project in the past 12 months.

Respondents said he key benefits of setting up a PMO include delivering projects on time and on budget (50%) and creating business value (31%).

Meeting stakeholder expectations (66%), staying on budget (63%), achieving business outcomes (61%) and meeting deadlines (61%) are the biggest challenges facing PMOs.

More than 70% of organizations report they do not have enough resources to meet incoming project demand. Just under half (46%) say marshalling resources is their top challenge.

More than half of organizations believe their projects and resources are not well or very well aligned with strategic business goals.

A full 89% report leveraging the same resource pool for strategic projects and operational work—a significant increase from 72% in 2015. Nearly half (47%) differentiate between strategic and operational work.

Scoring (49%) is the most popular method among organizations that have a formal methodology for aligning and prioritizing projects. Organizations that are not using any formal methodology to rank their projects decreased to 17% from 24% in 2015.

Less than half (44%) of respondents say they do not have a solution in place. While this number may seem high, it is an improvement from 2015, when 55% of respondents reported not having a project portfolio management (PPM) system in place.