Project success rates are rising. Organizations today are wasting an average of US$97 million for every US$1 billion invested — that’s a significant 20 percent decline from last year’s Pulse of the Profession® findings.

Organizations are experiencing more success implementing strategic initiatives and, for the first time in five years, more projects are meeting original goals and business intent and being completed within budget.

The 2017 Pulse findings continue to show what we’ve learned in the past: that when proven project, program, and portfolio management practices are implemented, projects are more successful. At the same time, the definition of success is evolving.

The traditional measures of scope, time, and cost are no longer sufficient. Projects must deliver what they set out to do — the expected benefits. So, for the first time, when determining project success, we looked at levels of benefits realization maturity as well as the traditional measures.

Through this wider lens, we identified champions and underperformers as two new, measurable performance levels. We also indicate the organizational practices that distinguish more successful project performance.

Related Articles:

http://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/pulse-of-the-profession-2017