I'm sure the Standish Group or other industry analyst teams have come up with other research and reports on this...
However, three caveats:
1. The context of projects and their relative complexity has significant impact on this, as well as the delivery approach taken.
2. On-time is only one measure. What about quality? What about customer satisfaction? What about remaining within budget?
3. Averages won't help you understand the variation around the mean.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Jean OReillyVice President - PMO Manager| Deutsche Bank DWS Asset ManagmentWeehawken, Nj, United States
Hi Kiron, Thanks for your input. I agree that On-Time is just one facet, and I think that cost, ROI, and outcome should take a greater role in project KPIs. Stats on on-time delivery miss the raising and lowering of resource intensity due to changes in priority along the way.
I did find additional stats, based on info in your article pointing me to PMI resources, see link below and PMI Pulse of the Profession 2021, an annual view of a specific project management theme.
Hi Kiron, you have really nailed the issue on the head by saying '' On-time is only one measure. What about quality? What about customer satisfaction? What about remaining within budget?" Many PMs, in a bid to quickly deliver before the agreed project schedule and to save cost end up completing the project with some inferior resources thereby causing a serious rework for the end users and bad customer experience. Saving Changes...
Barnaby DaviesProject & Programme Management Professional| Freelance ConsultantIlkley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
I'm inclined in the other direction here. The requirement can (and perhaps should) be interpreted at face value. "Delivered" can simply mean a defined scope of work delivered to a defined schedule and define specification (quality). There isn't (as far as I know) a good data set on this and I imagine the data is difficult (if not impossible) to get.
I'm not a huge fan of the current Pulse data set though the PMI are to be applauded for their efforts to produce it. The figures might be correct but the causes cited for project failure don't reconcile well with what I see in the real world or the well documented causes of project failure.
We could modify the original question too. "What proportion of IT projects are delivered on-time, on-budget and on specification?"
The PMI (and perhaps only the PMI) is in a position to nudge its members in the direction of a large scale well designed data collection activity. A more rigorous survey for all its members to complete when they complete projects. Anonymised if necessary. Saving Changes...
