Use Data to Revolutionize Project Planning

Planning projects accurately is notoriously difficult. According to the 2018 “Pulse of the Profession” study conducted by the Project Management Institute, between 2011 to 2018 only 50% of projects where completed on time and 55% were within budget. Even though firms have been investing in project management techniques since the 1970s, the accuracy of their project plans have not improved much. Inaccurate forecasts of project durations, costs, resources, and benefits are a major source of risk and can affect leaders’ careers, as well as organizations’ growth opportunities and the health of the economy at large. But today, data-driven prediction and decision-making offer unprecedented opportunities in the field of project planning. Using historical data on projects’ initial forecasted completion dates and total costs, among other measures, accuracy estimates can be established. Such accuracy estimates can then be used when forecasting and setting new projects’ goals.