The State of Project Management Survey 2016

The State
of Project
Management
Annual Survey 2016

Contents
Foreword 3
Introduction 5
Participants 6
Consistent Project Management Approach 7
Project Management Processes 8
Project Manager Skills & Experience 9
Project Management Maturity 10
PMO Office 12
The CEB Imperatives for the PMO 13
PMO Status & Value 14
Project Performance 15
Software Tools 18
Cloud Computing 19
About Wellingtone Project Management 20
About APM PMO SIG 21
About the Survey 22
[2]
The State of Project Management Survey 2016

This very welcome survey provides just what the profession needs. Information and
evidence that enables us to make informed decisions. To manage.
25 years ago I fumbled and stumbled my way to delivering a large and successful I.T.
project, largely because it was impossible to tell what its true status was. I realised that
it was possible to deceive with a mixture of seemingly business like reporting and
aggressive confidence. But it troubled my professional conscience. Then I discovered
Earned Value Management and a way to articulate and do ‘gold standard’ Project
Controls which became my career.
In recent years and after a very long journey I now think that the ‘holy grail’ for the
profession is benefits driven portfolios: joined up project programme and portfolio
management producing real qualitative and quantitative value for users, be they
customers or citizens.
I think the answers and problems are highlighted in these survey results. We are at the
‘knowing-doing’ gap. We understand what has to be done we now have to do it.
Enforce it. Make it stick. We can do that most effectively by continuing to
professionalise Project Management.
We now have to discover whether the reason projects are poorly scoped or that PMOs
are not involved in setting strategy is because of lack of insight, lack of information or
through wilful blindness. The deliberate choice of senior management to conceal
deceive mislead. To manage by instinct wish and opinion. To deliberately exclude.
In this report I see evidence with which to challenge complacency and incompetence
so that things can be made better for us all. I would like to live in a world where there
is always a Project Manager on the Board, in the same way that there is always
Finance. It is only by participation and sponsorship of Project Management at Board
level that our full professional value will be realised. This place at the top-table is ours
if we do what is necessary to take it. The first positive step is to understand that no-
one is going to give it to us unless we convince them. With evidence. Which is why this
survey is such a valuable step, both forward and up in this journey.
Steve Wake Chair
APM Board
Foreword
[3]

It still amazes me that every time we try to kill the "PMOs only last 4 yrs" theory, we
always manage to prove it! Anyone involved with the APM's PMO SIG will have seen
this question crop up on a regular basis.
Interestingly, this survey shows that of the 70% of respondents who have a PMO entity
in their organisation, more than 55% of them have existed for 4 years or less. It is
however, good to see that 5-6 years has now broken the 10% barrier!
Back in the autumn, the PMO SIG very much welcomed our Wellingtone friends asking
us to get involved with this survey. We have been trying to obtain decent data that we
can use to support the UK industry for some time now so it is very exciting to have (for
the first time ever) real national Project Management and PMO data.
Whenever we speak to our members, we find that (despite all the guidance that is out
there) benefits realisation is a big headache. This survey really reflects this view with
over 45% of respondents claiming this to be the most troublesome PMO process to
embed into an organsation.
Up there with benefits realisation with over 30% each sit change control and lessons
learned. Followed swiftly by resource management and prioritisation. I am only
surprised to see lessons learned so high up in the list – especially as more than 60% of
organisations have a maturity level of 2 or 3, and I see lessons learned as key for the
success of any PMO and whilst not insignificant; a 'must have' for the PMO to be seen
to be embedding (and living by) a culture of continuous improvement.
The project success figures are startling (and genuinely worrying), especially with over
70% of respondents having an established PMO. Maybe it’s because the majority of
PMO’s time is spent on administrative tasks, or maybe because of the high proportion
of non-professionals running projects?
Whatever the reason, it is something we need to get to the bottom of – the irony
always being that if there is an established PMO recognized as a partner to the
business a lot of the issues highlighted by this survey can be addressed!
I want to thank everyone at Wellingtone Project Management for enabling this to
happen, and making the APM PMO SIG a partner. The real recognition though, goes to
all those that took the time to complete this years’ survey – I hope that next year you
will take the time to let us know how you progressed in 2016!
Emma-Ruth Arnaz-Pemberton Chair
APM PMO SIG
Foreword
[4]

Introduction
Wellingtone Project Management and the Association for Project Management (APM)
Project Management Office (PMO) Specific Interest Group (SIG) have together
published this, our first ‘The State of Project Management’ annual survey.
Although a number of non-salary focused project management surveys are published
each year they tend to be either very US centric or global in perspective. Our UK
project management industry is highly developed and deserves special attention.
We invited colleagues from across our project management industry to participate, and
they did, in their hundreds! This is the largest ever non-salary focused project
management survey in the UK.
The State of Project Management survey asks questions across a number of important
topics including; project management maturity, tools & techniques, project success
rates and of course PMO maturity.
You are very welcome to share this report with colleagues across our industry. It
provides a fantastic insight into the state of project management in the UK.
In writing this report I was keen to provide short focused commentary on the data
rather than making you wade through pages of text. As a minor point of clarification
where I have used the term “Project Management” I have done so as a generic catch
all and am referring to project, programme & portfolio management. The data should
speak for itself and although it highlights the great successes achieved by some it
clearly shows there is much work to be done! Almost every organisation can benefit
from improving their project management maturity. I hope this report provides the
catalyst for you to consider how you can increase your project successes.
Thank you to all those professionals who contributed to this important and invaluable
research data. I would also like to thank the Chair of the APM PMO SIG, Emma-Ruth
Arnaz-Pemberton who recognised the value of this research and worked tirelessly with
me to make it a reality. Please do contact me with your thoughts on the survey and
this report.
Vince Hines Managing Director
Wellingtone Project Management
vince.hines@wellingtone.co.uk
[5]

Participants
686 professionals participated representing
317 organisations
Thank you to all those who participated from across our profession.
Respondents tended to be highly experienced, professionally qualified
project management practitioners from across a wide spread of industries
and UK geographic regions. The average participant is a Project Manager
with at least one professional qualification (most likely PRINCE2) who is
an employee of a large organisation
[6]

Consistent Project Management Approach
A strong indicator of project management maturity is the application of a
consistent methodology. Are all projects of a similar size & scale run in a
similar way, or is the approach driven by the selected Project Manager?
Participants were asked a series of questions about the application of
consistent methods and their frequency of use
1/4 of PMs never or sometimes apply a consistent project management
methodology or prepare a standard scoping document. A similar
number never or sometimes engage in project risk management. These are
significant numbers & demonstrate that even across professionally qualified
experienced PMs there is significant room for improvement
[7]
Over 34% of projects schedules are
not baselined. Baselining should
occur at the end of the Planning Stage
as part of approval to proceed. Actual
progress can then be tracked against
the baseline plan. PMs should not
only know where they are in the plan,
but also where they are compared to
where they should be

Project Management Processes
Benefits realisation has been a “hot” topic in project management for
some time. Organisations are waking up to the need to identify and
monitor tangible benefits post project, but worryingly over 45% of
respondents highlighted this as troublesome to embed. We
anticipated resource management would feature strongly but change
control & lessons learned are also key challenges
[8]
We asked the question; “in your experience what typical project
management processes are the most troublesome to embed?”
Respondents were asked to select their top 3

Project Manager Skills & Experience
Not surprisingly, given our pool of respondents, there was a high
percentage of “professional PMs” undertaking projects. Still, even within
this pool 25% of projects are always or mainly undertaken by SMEs. This
is fine if they receive appropriate training but significantly more than 1/3
said “No” or “Don’t know” when asked about the availability of
training
[9]
Many projects are not run by a recognised “professional” Project Manager
but rather a Subject Matter Expert (SME) who has been given the
challenge of running a project in their area of expertise. Often people
therefore undertake projects will little or no formal training. We asked
about what type of people run projects and whether their organisation
invests in project management training

Project Management Maturity
45% of respondents are somewhat or very dissatisfied with the
current level of PM maturity in their organisation. This is a significant
figure and demonstrates the scale of the opportunity for PM
improvements. The majority of organisations should aim to achieve level
3 as a minimum so with circa 50% of organisations at a maturity level of 2
or below, it is no surprise that we find so many dissatisfied respondents
[10]
We can measure the maturity of an organisation to see “how good” it is at
project management. A standard 5 level maturity model is shown below.
Respondents were asked to grade their department and organisation as a
whole on their maturity. People are often over-optimistic about maturity
and the more telling question relates to whether they are happy with the
current level of maturity

PMO Office
We have seen strong growth in the setup of PMOs over recent years.
Over 70% of organisations now have a single or multiple PMOs. On
page 8 we listed processes that were the most difficult to embed, the
highest being “benefits tracking”. Here we see “benefits tracking” as the
least likely to form part of the scope of a PMO; an entity that could and
should perform this function for the organisation on behalf of Sponsors
[12]
We asked a series of questions related to the state of the PMO, obviously
a core interest for the APM PMO SIG. We started by asking about the
existence of a PMO or PMOs and their scope of work. Different terms are
used across industry for a range of similar permanent entities that oversee
project activities. Here we are using the term PMO as a generic name to
cover PMO, PSO, Programme Office, Portfolio Office, Projects Office or PM
Centre of Excellence

The CEB Imperatives for the PMO
44% of the time PMOs are either sometimes or never involved in
these nine imperatives. Page 12 backs this up and suggests most PMOs
are focused on perceived lower value activities such as maintaining the
project list, maintaining document templates and, most commonly,
issuing project status reports. Interestingly, 57% of PMOs are never or
only sometimes involved in supporting a PM career path
The CEB PMO Leadership Council published their 2015 PMO Outlook
which detailed nine imperatives for the PMO function. We asked
respondents how involved their PMO is in each of these
[13]

PMO Status and Value
Around 1/3 of all PMOs do not have consistent & positive sponsorship
or a defined strategy. It’s no wonder that a similar number feel they are
not recognised as a value adding business partner. PMOs typically spend
time measuring project KPIs so it is also somewhat ironic that nearly 50%
do not track their own performance. If something is not tracked, how
can it be effectively managed?
We asked a series of questions around the status and value of the PMO.
In our experience many PMOs spend a larger portion of their time
justifying their existence than other business units or entities
Those running projects often feel
isolated, unaware others are walking
the same path but in different
departments & locations.
Establishing a community of
practitioners is an excellent way of
sharing knowledge, experience and
project lessons learned. Less than
half of respondents had this benefit
[14]

Project Performance
One of the most crucial areas of interest is the performance of projects.
Success can be defined by a number of criteria and here we asked
respondents about performance against time, budget and benefit. We
also asked about the general track record of project performance
[15]
46%
of organisations
never or some-
times have a track
record of success
31%
of organisations
never or some-
times complete
on budget
32%
of organisations
never or some-
times complete
on time
31%
of organisations
never or some-
times deliver full
benefits

Project Performance
No huge surprises in these answers. We see these issues time and time
again. Some of these are often closely related. For example, poorly
trained Sponsors often change their minds and keep “tinkering” with the
scope or even stop / start projects with little thought for the impact.
Consider your organisation and the challenges you face. What can
you pro-actively do to tackle these challenges head-on?
The data on project performance is startling. Such a significant
portion of projects do not deliver on benefits, time or cost. The next
question is therefore key; what are the largest challenges your
organisation faces when it comes to project, programme & portfolio
management? We asked respondents to select their top 3
[16]

Software Tools
Resource management is the 4th most difficult to embed and also ranks
4th for greatest challenge. It’s no wonder. Only 20% of organisations
use a sophisticated PPM or resource management software solution.
We see so many organisations attempt to manage the complex problem
of resource with Microsoft Excel. Similarly 25% of respondents use the
simplest of tools (or none!) to attempt to manage their schedules
Those involved in projects, as with all business functions, can benefit from
having the right software tools. We asked questions about which tools
respondents use and the benefits they derived from these tools. Many
organisations are now looking to implement Enterprise Project
Management (EPM) solutions, also referred to as Project & Portfolio
Management (PPM) solutions
[18]
35%
receive no or limited
benefits from their
software investment

Cloud Computing
Our respondents are project management professionals, some of whom
will be experts in the cloud whereas others will be viewing this very much
from a users perspective. It is interesting that ease of access, increased
collaboration and improved mobility were identified as the greatest
benefits. All very useful for those involved in projects
Moving to the cloud is a key driver for software vendors and therefore
their customers. Many organisations have implemented cloud solutions
such as Microsoft Office365 and now other line of business systems,
including PPM / EPM tools are on the agenda. There are many benefits
but also considerations regarding the adoption of a cloud solution. We
asked a few questions regarding cloud usage, benefits and concerns
[19]
Only 20%Do NOT expect to increase the usage of
cloud computing over the next 12 months

About Us
We are a specialist Project Management company based in Windsor, Berkshire
working with clients across the UK and internationally. Established since 1995, our
clients come from all industries, both public and private sectors and range from
household names to SME’s. The one thing all our clients have in common is they all
run projects.
Project success is therefore critical to most organisations. Our goal is to work as a
partner with our clients to maximise their likelihood of project, programme and
portfolio success. Whether this is helping to define a fit for purpose & practical
project methodology, training people in best practice project management,
implementing Project & Portfolio Management solutions such as Microsoft Project
Server and SharePoint or helping clients recruit project professionals, we can help.
We have a long track record of success providing practical and cost effective
solutions with a very wide range of organisations. Please view our client testimonials
within each section of our website or read our client case studies. Please do contact
us to discuss your project management goals and to see how we can help.
We are leaders in project management in the UK. This is demonstrated by our track
record of success with our clients but also supported by our professional status:
• Corporate Member of the Association for Project Management (APM)
• Accredited APM Training Provider
• Microsoft Gold Partner with Project & Portfolio Management Specialism
• Corporate Member of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC)
Wellingtone also has a unique alliance with the APM to provide a career development
service to the project management profession.
[20]

About Us
The Association of Project Management (APM) PMO Specific Interest Group (SIG) is one of several
volunteer organisations with a particular focus on Portfolio, Programme, and Project Offices (in all
their guises).
The PMO SIG is made up of ten (10) APM members with different levels of experience in both the
industry, and in volunteer organisations.
During 2015, the SIG was restructured to provide a better strategic focus on four (4) key areas;
Marketing, Research, Events, and Knowledge Management. These strategic focus points support the
SIG's objectives to:
• Facilitate collaborative learning that fully engages the APM membership, and helps members grow
their PMO skills and competencies
• Reach out to other disciplines (audit, finance, procurement, quality; amongst others) that
collaborate routinely with PMOs to create value for organisations
• Provide an open source of unbiased advice and guidance to those who can benefit from putting
PMO practice(s) to work
• Have a bias towards action, understanding the latest thinking, and quickly digest it into ways that
can be shared as digestible knowledge with those the SIG seeks to help
The PMO SIG community includes APM members (and non-members via LinkedIn and Twitter). The
SIG prides itself in supporting:
• PMO practitioners; defined as people who enable, support, and ensure the management of change
in oranisations
• Those who need to know more about PMO and its benefits, practices, tools, and techniques
• People in leadership positions who need to understand the potential benefits of the PMO approach
• People in organisations tasked with performing the 'bridge' function between strategy and delivery,
either in a portfolio setting, or in various dispersed units throughout an organisation
• Other APM Specific Interest Groups in the form of support, assurance, guidance, and collaboration
The PMO SIG hosts and collaborates on events that support its members; but with a view always to
drive the PMO industry forward. Its' 2015 conference 'Socialising the PMO' focused on PMOs as
builders of communities within the Portfolio, Programme, and Project environment; it's goal was to
bring PMO people into the modern social world of working and to inspire them to bring their own
enterprises on the journey.
Over the last two years, the PMO SIG has contributed to the newest Portfolio, Programme, and Project
Offices guidance (Axelos), and the refreshed APM Competency Framework. The PMO SIG believe that
the State of Project Management 2016 survey is a key enabler in continuing the work that has been
started by the team.
If you want to find out more, you an find all information on:
APM website: https://www.apm.org.uk/group/apm-pmo-specific-interest-group
On Twitter: @PMOSIGUK
On LinkedIn: APM PMO SIG
[21]

About the Survey
Wellingtone Project Management defined a series of 28 questions relating to project
management and invited the APM PMO SIG to include a further 13 questions relating
to their particular area of interest, the PMO.
These questions were then used to build an online survey. Project Management
professionals from across all industries were invited to participate by completing the
online survey. The survey was publicised solely in the UK and was open for
participation from the 5th of November 2015 until the 5th of December 2015.
Vince Hines, Managing Director, Wellingtone Project Management is the author of this
report, created based on the data collected from the survey. Respondent specific
survey data is kept in strictest confidence. This report has been anonymised and
includes only trends, averages and totals data. Wellingtone Project Management does
not share respondent specific data and is identified as both the Data Controller and
Data Processor. Wellingtone Project Management is registered in accordance with the
Data Protection Act 1998: Z9727037.
Prize Draw
Acknowledging that project management professionals are busy people Wellingtone
Project Management provided additional incentive to complete the survey with a prize
draw. The APM PMO SIG kindly contributed 3 tickets to an APM PMO SIG event of
choice as part of the prize draw, all other prizes were provided by Wellingtone Project
Management.
The prize draw was conducted at the offices of Wellingtone Project Management on
the 8th of December 2015. The draw was completed by André Pereira da Silva, Product
Marketing Manager, Microsoft UK with oversight by Nathaniel Morosoli, Media and
Sponsorship Manager, Association for Project Management.
Congratulations to our
Prize Draw Winners
£250 John Lewis vouchers
R. Baker
Dell Tablet
T. Unwin
P. Fitzmaurice
N. Williamson
PMO SIG Event Ticket of their Choice
P. Hind
H. Roberts
R. Khalil
[22]
André Pereira da Silva, Microsoft (left) & Nathaniel Morosoli, APM

All trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.
Copyright 2016 Wellingtone Limited. Reproduction of data from this report is permitted provided the source
“The State of Project Management 2016 Survey by Wellingtone Project Management and the APM PMO SIG” is
clearly referenced.
Please refer questions or comments regarding this report to Wellingtone Project Management.

The State of Project Management Survey 2016

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