51 Project Management Statistics

The rapid development of project management technology has increased the speed of these changes significantly. With so many details and resources to track, project management is no easy feat, especially when trying to stay within budget, hit the required

As a result, project management software providers keep developing more robust tools to help project managers and their teams achieve success with more projects.

But what is the state of project management and its biggest challenges in 2021? How do they currently handle these challenges?

Finally, what can you do to improve your own methodologies for project management with the tools available on the market today?

Here are more than 50 project management statistics to help you grasp the reality of project management in 2021 – and help you proactively improve your own projects in the future.

What Platforms Are Used to Manage Projects?

If you research ‘project management software’, you’ll find a barrage of options to choose from. The most popular tools typically include features such as:

Several project views (Kanban, Gantt, Calendar, Form, File, and more)
Time and budget tracking
File management
Task status updates
Streamlined communication
Project and task dependencies
Integration with web conferencing software
And much more!

Although there are dozens of tools available, some of the most popular include Jira, Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Asana, Monday, Basecamp, and Wrike:

Jira has a 36.57% market share, followed by Microsoft Project (19.78%) and Smartsheet (5.17%)
Large organizations such as Google, Deloitte, Yelp, and Airbnb use Asana
100,000 teams across 201 are using Monday
Basecamp has over 3 million users since 2020
Hootsuite and L’Oreal are only two of the 20,000 businesses that use Wrike
76% of executives believe that project management software will become the new normal
56% of businesses stick to a single project management software
44% of project managers don’t use project management software at all
The project management software market is expected to grow by 10.67% from 2020 to 2025
73% of organizations look for reliability, ease of use, and ease of integration as the top features for project management software, but they also believe software available today does not have these three factors

(Sources: ReportLinker, PWC, Datanyze, Capterra, Hive, KPMG, Monday.com, Basecamp, Asana, Wrike)

But here is how project management technology is helping improve project management as a whole:

75% of project management professionals believe that using collaboration software tools for teams will increase
32% of executives believe that investing in the right technologies is the most important factor in future success
22% of organizations utilized appropriate resource management solutions in 2020

Sources: (Wellingtone, PMI)

What Do Project Management Statistics Say About Project Management Adoption?

If your organization already uses project management methodologies, it’s easy to think the majority of other companies do the same.

Surprisingly, many organizations don’t see the value of project management! But as the data states, project management methodologies and software are responsible for better project performance.

58% of organizations see the value of using project management
93% of businesses state they use standardized project management practices in some shape or form, but only 23% use them across the entire organization
68% of businesses say they outsourced or contracted project managers in 2018
77% of high-performing projects use project management software
44% of project managers don’t believe they need to use software to manage their projects
More organizations are using PM tools – between 2017 and 2018, spreadsheet use for agile projects dropped from 74% to 67% to be replaced by software
Developing agile project management has a success rate of 41%
35% of project managers use Microsoft Excel when building their resource plans

(Sources: PMI, Hive, VersionOne, Wellington, Scrum)

Overall, standardized project management is on the rise, but any organizations haven’t adopted the tools to make it work yet. Let’s see what the data says about what project management software can do to improve collaboration, remote work communication, time management, and budgeting.

Project Management Features Improves Collaboration for In-House and Remote Teams Alike

Communication between team members tends to be one of the biggest challenges for project management – especially when it comes to remote work, since teams cannot rely on proximity.

Bad collaboration habits that don’t get addressed can worsen with remote work, which can result in project managers spending too much time micromanaging their team.

30.5% of teams have between 1 and 5 members in a project; 39% are made up of 6-10 people; 30.5% have over 10 people
59% of United States workers list communication as their biggest obstacle in the workplace
More than 62% of high-performing companies use features to edit documents in real-time and version control
90% of projects require its team members to participate together instead of providing individual responsibility
Miscommunication about project objectives is the main cause of project failure for 31% of companies
The most requested feature for project management software is file sharing
Lack of accountability interferes with the project success of 29% of US workers
45% of team members state that their most-used project management feature is the Gantt chart
For 55% of team members, project objectives are unclear
12% of project failures are caused by unmet or unclear task dependencies
A third of US workers believe that managers don’t listen to their ideas
Employee engagement is one of the biggest factors in project successes according to 71% of business executives
80% of workers spend half of their business week redoing work caused by poor communication
Nearly half (40%) of project managers spend the majority of their time answering questions via email and micromanaging team member responsibilities
88% of remote team members experience inconsistencies in leadership and miscommunication with other members of their team
83% of employees say they feel burnt out due to the high volume of emails
73% of employees report being burnt out, and unmanageable workload is the main cause of burnout for 20% of employees

(Sources: Atlassian, Smarp, Capterra, PWC, McKinsey, Geneca, Achievers, blind, Workplace Insight, GirlsGuidetoPM)

Data suggests that project management features like project objectives, real-time editing, communication tools, and task dependencies can improve the biggest challenges of workplace collaboration. With better communication and clear expectations set in place, team members no longer have to rely on their managers to constantly answer questions or micromanage their responsibilities.

Saving Time with Project Management

With better communication and collaboration comes improved productivity. According to these project management statistics, time is a big issue for a large portion of teams.

Nearly 46% of team managers say hitting their project deadlines is their biggest challenge
9% of company executives say they are satisfied with their workplace time allocation
After file sharing, time tracking is the second most-requested feature for project management software
Half of project managers spend a full business day or more manually developing project KPI reports
41% of businesses who do not use project management software do not complete projects on time, whereas 61% of businesses who implement these tools succeed at hitting project deadlines
Using project management software can save the average worker 498 hours each year

(Sources: Capterra, PMI, Geneca, Wellingtone, Workzone, Capterra)

Because project management software typically utilizes tools such as calendars, Gantt charts, and timelines, teams who use these tools can become much more efficient at planning and executing projects. For instance, because most company executives aren’t satisfied with time allocation, they could keep track of how much time each team member spends on each task with such software.

With this data, you can better understand where time goes and plan time allocation more efficiently for the next project.

Project Management Tools Can Help You Stay Within Budget

In addition to time management, budget is another element companies struggle to control in a project. Data suggests that project costs are nearly as difficult to mitigate as time:

47% of businesses who do not use project management tools complete projects within budget compared to 66% for businesses who do use these tools
24% of project management professionals believe that projects are hindered by unrealistic budgets
20% of project management professionals believe that adopting agile methodologies for project management can help lower project costs
47% of project managers believe they are expected to deliver more value for their organization, even with a reduced budget and timeline
For every $1B invested in America, $122M is wasted because of insufficient project management
Nearly half (47%) of companies who use project management software believe it has a positive impact on estimating project costs accurately
Businesses who use project management methodologies in the workplace save 28 times more money than those who do not

(sources: Capterra, PMI, Harvard Business Review, PMI, Hive, Axelos)

In order to mitigate project costs, project managers must track their budget just like they track time. Project management software allows teams to do this easily. By tracking time and budget together, you can become more accurate with estimations and stay under budget for the majority of your projects.

Plan More Efficient Projects With the Right Data

Now it’s up to you to keep these project management statistics in mind when planning and executing your own projects.

With standardized project management on the rise and constantly improved tools available to make adoption easier for organizations of all sizes, the time to become more efficient and complete projects successfully with project management is today!