A Smartsheet project and portfolio management (PPM) survey reveals a need to project manage increasingly disruptive change.
PPM software vendor Smartsheet quizzed 1488 PPM professionals in September. “A staggering 92% indicate that adapting to change remains a significant struggle,” it said.
Its 2025 PPM priorities report further found that change often had adverse impacts on key business metrics.
“Frequent change is creating a sense of fatigue and overwhelm for project teams,” Smartsheet confirmed.
Challenges included frequent shifts in work priorities, gaps in communication and collaboration, and lack of access to critical data and information.
“Over half (54%) of PPM professionals say business changes require them to constantly or frequently change work priorities,” said Smartsheet.
“Seventy-one percent report that constant changes in the workplace make it difficult to remain productive.”
Seventy percent of respondents reported more frequent disruptive change.
“Technology disruption (59%) tops the list, followed by organisational changes (57%),” Smartsheet said.
Additional findings affecting PPM
Respondents also often mentioned market or industry changes (52%) and macroeconomic changes (49%).
Employee engagement, customer satisfaction and strategy also suffered, Smartsheet said.
“Negative impacts to productivity are especially concerning since the pressure to do more with less is on the rise, due to economic uncertainty and tighter budgets.”
Consequently, the vendor suggested that attention is needed on communication and collaboration, technology flexibility, and processes, especially as organisations project manage and target growth.
“Structured processes are key to responding to change effectively,” Smartsheet said. “Companies with a tried and tested framework for tackling change adapt more quickly.”
Smartsheet, which offers PPM software, said organisations need standardised yet sufficiently flexible guidelines, processes, and systems. More than half (58%) of the survey respondents said their current tools were inadequate.
( Image by Malachi Witt from Pixabay )
