PMI Releases ‘Pulse of the Profession’ Reports

Making the case for Agile

The latest two reports from the Project Management Institute focus on the need for an organization to be agile in today’s complex and disruptive global marketplace. As reported in both "Achieving Greater Agility" and "The Drivers of Agility," organizations with higher agility reported more projects successfully meeting original goals and business intent by using hybrid (72%), predictive (71%) and agile (68%) approaches.

Other trends the reports disclose include:

  • Organizations with higher levels of agility place a significant focus on building diverse skill sets and process capabilities.
  • Organizations with high agility report a minimum of 5% year-over-year revenue growth last year, compared to only 29% of organizations with low agility.
  • Organizations with high agility recognize the value of having some form of project governing body: 94% report having a PMO, an agile work group or another type of formal governance board.

Based on these reports, PMI recommends organizations:

  • Seek a balance of speed and flexibility, stability and scale.
  • Include all approaches to project delivery in your project management toolkit.
  • Encourage open thinking and commit to talent development to accelerate results.
  • React with flexibility, respond to change, and engage employees and customers.

Earlier this month, PMI launched the first bundling of its Agile Practice Guide and PMBOK Guide Sixth Edition to reinforce its position that industry professionals should consider the full range of project management approaches in determining which method will deliver the best project outcomes.

Interested in seeing how you can bring an Agile mindset to your organization? Start by taking Agile Management: Principles and Practices.