Pulse of the profession is a worldwide yearly survey that presents the insights and trends of the project, programme and the portfolio management

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Our quarterly report on indicators of importance to the project management community.

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Pulse of the Profession® 2023

Power skills — also known as interpersonal skills or soft skills such as communication, problem-solving and collaborative leadership — are proving essential for project professionals. They are at the heart of leading successful teams, engaging stakeholders and conquering challenges to the project plan. Technical skills enable project managers to chart the path from the start of a project to close, but power skills are how they bring the entire team along for the journey to execute a common vision.

Pulse of the Profession® 2023

Power skills — also known as interpersonal skills or soft skills such as communication, problem-solving and collaborative leadership — are proving essential for project professionals.

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Special Features

Pulse at Work: Practitioner's Guide

Our summary of Pulse findings for the individual practitioner. Includes practical advice from professionals like you.

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Elevate Success

Project performance is moving in the right direction and organizations are getting a boost. Numbers tell the story.

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In-depth Topic Reports

Achieving Greater Agility: The people and process drivers that accelerate results

For a clearer picture of how agile transformation can drive positive change across an organization, PMI commissioned research by Forrester Consulting. Our resulting Pulse of the…

The Drivers of Agility: Engaging people and building processes to accelerate results

In this companion piece to our Pulse of the Profession® in-depth report Achieving Greater Agility, we explore how a high level of agility is possible only when the right talent and…

How will you improve business results?

In comparison to the 2015 Pulse of the Profession result, the findings of 2016 saw more failing projects and considerable financial loss. Businesses wasted millions of money for every rupee invested because of poor project management performance.

We provided guidance to organizations to reinforce the benefits of project management and its importance as a planned skill that can decrease failure, reduce expenses and improve success rates.

All through the year, we highlighted the profitable insight: how to achieve, deliver and maintain the importance that projects offer.

In-depth Topic Reports

Beyond the Project: Sustain benefits to optimize business value

By PMI

Do the outcomes and outputs of your projects continue to produce value after the projects have ended and the ongoing work has transitioned to the business unit? This in-depth report from Pulse of…

Delivering Value: Focus on benefits during project execution

Project managers have a role in ensuring that an organization’s expected benefits are delivered once a project is complete. It’s especially important to activate that role during project execution,…

The Strategic Impact of Projects: Identify benefits to drive business results

By PMI

When benefits are identified before the start of a project, 74 percent of projects meet goals and business intent. Identifying the needed benefits, and linking them to both project and program…

Taking a Pulse

High performance and project management maturity go hand in hand — but many organizations are still in the slow lane. Numbers tell the story.

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Capturing the Value of Project Management

Transformation in any business occurs through plans and programs — by many different names. By highlighting the essentials of developing a project management culture, defining processes and cultivating talent, organizations can recognize the value of project management and achieve economic benefit.

In-depth Topic Reports

Capturing the Value of Project Management Through Organizational Agility

By PMI

When organizations create a culture of agility enabling projects and programs — their most strategic initiatives — to be completed ever-faster and more efficiently, they are better positioned to…

Capturing the Value of Project Management Through Decision Making

Poor decisions have negative consequences to both outcomes and the bottom line. However, when organizations approach decision making with discipline, 79 percent more projects meet original goals and…

Capturing the Value of Project Management Through Knowledge Transfer

By PMI

When organizations value knowledge transfer and implement good practices to support it, they improve project outcomes by nearly 35 percent. Although practices vary among organizations, the most…

The High Cost of Low Performance

Merely 9 percent of the organizations graded themselves as exceptional on effectively implementing strategic plans to deliver good results in business. Established practices in project management fill the gap between strategy formulation and execution, allowing organizations to both “run” and “change” the business accordingly.

In-depth Topic Reports

Executive Sponsor Engagement: Top Driver of Project and Program Success

By PMI

Effective executive sponsorship is critical to the success of an organization’s strategic initiatives, and active engagement by executive sponsors is the top driver of project and program success.…

Requirements Management: Core Competency for Project and Program Success

Organizations waste US$51 million for every US$1 billion spent on projects and programs due to poor requirements management. By changing their culture to one that values effective requirements…

Enabling Organizational Change Through Strategic Initiatives

By PMI

Successful implementation of strategic initiatives is critical for organizations to enable sustainable change. Those that are highly effective at change management demonstrate three practices that…

The Risks of Undervaluing Project Management

When businesses/organizations continually progress at program and project implementation, they accomplish success. But when the management underestimates the advantage of useful project, program and portfolio management — strategic initiative management — they set their money at risk.

In-depth Topic Reports

The Essential Role of Communications

By PMI

According to 55 percent of project managers, effective communication to all stakeholders is the most critical success factor in project management. Get the hard numbers behind this soft skill.

PMO Frameworks

This report enables PMOs to benchmark themselves against the most common PMO frameworks and the key practices of each type. The report compares the methods, services and processes used by the…

The Impact of PMOs on Strategy Implementation

By PMI

This research identifies key practices of high-performing PMOs that enable them to realize their potential in contributing value to their organizations and to implement strategy more effectively…