Measuring What Matters
Summary
Measurement is key to demonstrating the impact and value of projects. Measurement provides project visibility and delivers the data to strengthen the future business case for a program or project management office (PMO). However, if project success is limited to the “iron triangle” metrics of scope, schedule, and cost, it often condemns projects (and the PMOs overseeing them) to being “red flagged” as a poor return on investment for organizations. But what if PMOs change the way projects are perceived by emphasizing outcome-based benefits such as operational efficiencies or customer satisfaction?
Project Management Institute (PMI), the world’s leading authority on project management, and professional services firm PwC have teamed up to address how success being measured by project-based organizations impacts PMOs. Our global research indicates that innovation in measurement is a key feature of PMO maturity. Our PMO maturity index highlights a group of 230 PMOs which make up the top 10% of organizations— called the “Top 10 Percent” in this report— which are bringing in a greater variety of measures and using technology to increase the number and variety of metrics and the frequency of measurement. The Top 10 Percent organizations outperformed organizations overall in 2020 in revenue, customer satisfaction, and acquisition (see Figure 1) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) indicators.
The report also highlights what PMOs can do to reimagine their approach to measurement, which will help to increase the visibility of evolving maturity levels and increase the perceived value and impact of PMOs and project managers across organizations.