We talk a lot about best practices, what about the areas where we don’t have enough answers. What day-to-day project struggles do you think the research community is overlooking? and as a PM practitioner, If you could hand researchers one tough PM problem to study, what would it be? Interested researchers/scholars will receive unlimited financial backing to complete their investigations. Saving Changes...
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Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Akin Fadare A fantastic and timely question.
As a practitioner, I’d suggest three under-researched but high-impact challenges that deserve deeper investigation — with real-world application in mind.
1. Behavioral Biases in Project Management
We often underestimate how much cognitive bias influences project outcomes — optimism bias, planning fallacy, escalation of commitment, anchoring… the list goes on.
While academic literature touches on these (e.g., arxiv.org), we still lack actionable frameworks for identifying and mitigating these biases within actual projects.
How do biases distort estimation, scope, or risk assessments?
What countermeasures actually work in real-world environments?
2. Invisible Technical Debt
In agile and tech-driven environments, technical debt is often ignored until it becomes a critical risk.
Despite increasing awareness (arxiv.org), we still lack robust tools to track, prioritize, and manage tech debt at scale.
Research could focus on automated detection, risk scoring models, and decision frameworks that support sustainable backlog management.
3. Admin Overload vs. Value Delivery
One of the most common pain points I hear:
“I spend 80% of my time managing reports, tools, and meetings — and only 20% delivering actual value.”
This isn’t just “tool fatigue.”
It reflects deeper issues of process bloat and poor organizational design.
Research could map how PMs really spend their time, uncover hidden friction points, and test leaner, AI-supported approaches to reclaim productivity.
If I could hand researchers one challenge to tackle with unlimited backing, it would be this:
- How can we reduce the behavioral, technical, and bureaucratic drag that silently erodes project performance — without compromising governance or quality?
That’s where I believe research could create real, measurable value for the profession.
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1 reply by Akin Fadare
Sep 03, 2025 3:20 PM
Akin Fadare
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Luis Branco "- How can we reduce the behavioral, technical, and bureaucratic drag that silently erodes project performance — without compromising governance or quality? This is a thoughtful research gap. I do hope scholars on this platform would pick up this topic for future research work. Maybe PMI can fund it.
Akin Fadare A fantastic and timely question.
As a practitioner, I’d suggest three under-researched but high-impact challenges that deserve deeper investigation — with real-world application in mind.
1. Behavioral Biases in Project Management
We often underestimate how much cognitive bias influences project outcomes — optimism bias, planning fallacy, escalation of commitment, anchoring… the list goes on.
While academic literature touches on these (e.g., arxiv.org), we still lack actionable frameworks for identifying and mitigating these biases within actual projects.
How do biases distort estimation, scope, or risk assessments?
What countermeasures actually work in real-world environments?
2. Invisible Technical Debt
In agile and tech-driven environments, technical debt is often ignored until it becomes a critical risk.
Despite increasing awareness (arxiv.org), we still lack robust tools to track, prioritize, and manage tech debt at scale.
Research could focus on automated detection, risk scoring models, and decision frameworks that support sustainable backlog management.
3. Admin Overload vs. Value Delivery
One of the most common pain points I hear:
“I spend 80% of my time managing reports, tools, and meetings — and only 20% delivering actual value.”
This isn’t just “tool fatigue.”
It reflects deeper issues of process bloat and poor organizational design.
Research could map how PMs really spend their time, uncover hidden friction points, and test leaner, AI-supported approaches to reclaim productivity.
If I could hand researchers one challenge to tackle with unlimited backing, it would be this:
- How can we reduce the behavioral, technical, and bureaucratic drag that silently erodes project performance — without compromising governance or quality?
That’s where I believe research could create real, measurable value for the profession.
Luis Branco "- How can we reduce the behavioral, technical, and bureaucratic drag that silently erodes project performance — without compromising governance or quality? This is a thoughtful research gap. I do hope scholars on this platform would pick up this topic for future research work. Maybe PMI can fund it.
As a practitioner, my role is to help surface the questions that emerge from the ground — the silent tensions that affect project performance but are rarely quantified or explored.
I’ll gladly leave it to researchers and scholars to explore these gaps in depth.
That’s where real synergy between practice and academia emerges: when questions are born in the field, and answers are nurtured through rigorous investigation.
I’m excited to see where this conversation leads.
Saving Changes...
Hernan NuñezService Delivery Manager| DXC TechnologyCiudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
We talk a lot about best practices, but not enough about the real struggles PMs face daily. If I could hand researchers one tough problem to solve, it would be:
How can PMs lead effectively when they have high responsibility, low authority, and constant ambiguity?
PMs often guide teams without formal power, manage shifting goals, and bridge gaps between business and tech. They carry emotional weight—resolving conflicts, calming stakeholders, and keeping momentum—all while being overlooked.
We need research on how to support PMs in these invisible leadership roles, reduce burnout, and build trust beyond tools and dashboards. It’s time to study the human side of project delivery, not just the process.
PMO Leader | Speaker & Mentor | Content Leader – PMOGA Latin America
Hub| Catholic University of UruguayMontevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
Great question. I think one of the least explored challenges is how to manage the emotional energy of teams in contexts of high uncertainty.
We talk a lot about timelines, KPIs and methodologies, but little about the invisible burnout that affects decision making, collaboration and resilience.
If I could assign one topic to research with unlimited resources, it would be:
"How to design project management systems that integrate emotional metrics and team narratives to anticipate human blockages before technical ones."
That bridge between the technical and the human is still under construction - who else is up for exploring it? Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Sep 03, 2025 3:20 PM
Replying to Akin Fadare
...
Luis Branco "- How can we reduce the behavioral, technical, and bureaucratic drag that silently erodes project performance — without compromising governance or quality? This is a thoughtful research gap. I do hope scholars on this platform would pick up this topic for future research work. Maybe PMI can fund it.
As a practitioner, my role is to help surface the questions that emerge from the ground — the silent tensions that affect project performance but are rarely quantified or explored.
I’ll gladly leave it to researchers and scholars to explore these gaps in depth.
That’s where real synergy between practice and academia emerges: when questions are born in the field, and answers are nurtured through rigorous investigation.
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