KeyedIn Survey Finds Vast Majority of Projects Not Well Aligned with Strategic Business Priorities, Huge Lack of Resources to Carry Projects Out
January 18 Webinar Offers Deep Dive on Third Annual PMO Outlook Report which Showcases the Challenges and Opportunities for PMO Leaders in 2023
Ninety-four percent of projects are not well aligned with strategic business priorities and 77% of project practitioners don’t have enough resources to meet project demand, according to the 2023 PMO Outlook Report conducted by KeyedIn, a leading project portfolio management (PPM) software provider.
The new report highlights the findings from a survey of 120+ PMO/portfolio leaders, executives, and project managers, and was developed to assess the state of the project management office (PMO) as it becomes front and center for organizations executing digital transformation initiatives and other strategic efforts.
“This was KeyedIn’s third year of conducting its PMO Outlook Assessment Survey,” said Rachel Hentges, Director of Marketing for KeyedIn. “The most alarming statistic is the drop in alignment of resources to business priorities from being very well aligned in 2021 (23%) to only 8% very well aligned in 2022. This year’s results continue to highlight the disconnect between PMOs, executives, and their organizations when it comes to successfully delivering, tracking, and executing on changing business priorities.”
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The role of the PMO continues to change, as demonstrated by survey takers’ response to the question around the role of the PMO within their organizations. No clear answer emerged: 23% stated it’s a reporting and tracking function, 15% a business improvement function, 6% governance and standards and 47% citing a mix of functions, and an additional 6% citing other reasons.
The top challenge for PMOs in 2023 continues to be resource management at 52%, followed by project prioritization at 22%.
Resource Management
Organizations continue to struggle with issues related to resource management:
- Capacity planning (42%)
- Resource allocation (37%)
- Resource utilization (11%)
- Tracking resource skills (7%)
- Managing contractors (3%)
Project Prioritization
Organizations also continue to face project prioritization issues:
- Saying “no” to some projects in the portfolio (42%)
- Accurately scoring the value of portfolio of projects (33%)
- Modeling scenarios to optimize portfolio value (9%)
- Aligning portfolio projects with corporate strategy (8%)
- Tracking the value portfolio projects deliver (8%)
“Strategically prioritizing their portfolios in conjunction with shifting business priorities remains an ongoing challenge,” Hentges said. “In the report, KeyedIn introduces the importance of ‘The PMO Pivot’ and what that means for successful PMOs in 2023. The PMO Pivot refers to the PMO establishing themselves as the bridge for strategy delivery and project execution even when business priorities shift.”
KeyedIn conducted the survey online with more than 120 individuals in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., representing project and portfolio management functions within enterprise organizations.
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