Episode 366: Project Management Benchmark Report 2016 (Free)

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Lindsay Scott

For over a decade now, Arras people has been publishing their yearly project management benchmark report and so I’ve invited Lindsay Scott (https://uk.linkedin.com/in/projectsmanagementrecruitment) to introduce it to us to this latest version.

Lindsay says about the report, that even after all this time of doing the research and seeing the changes over the years, it is hard not to be drawn to the fact that project management is still an exciting and growing field. The fact that projects are still failing suggests that even with all the effort and time expended we are still searching for that magic bullet which will ensure we deliver.

Of course, the report doesn’t give us this magic bullet, but it provides an interesting insight into what you and I are doing day after day.

There are two options for you to get a copy of this report:

• First, download your copy right here...
• But your second option, which is actually the better one, is to visit the Arras People website and Request the Project Managment Benchmark Report 2016. Because in that way you are also going to be invited to fill in the survey for the next report.

Episode Transcript

Below are the first few pages of the transcript. The complete transcript is available to Premium subscribers only.

Podcast Introduction

Cornelius Fischtner: Hello and welcome to episode number 366. This is the Project Management Podcast at PM‑podcast.com, and I'm Cornelius Fischtner. Please remember that we are a listener‑supported podcast. If you enjoy our interviews, then stop by at PM‑podcast.com/premium for your subscription options.

For over a decade now Arras People has been publishing their yearly Project Management Benchmark Report, and I've invited Lindsay Scott to introduce it to us in its latest version.

If you are a project manager who wants to become PMP or PMI‑ACP‑certified, then the easiest way to do so is with our sister podcasts, the PM PrepCast and the Agile PrepCast and study for the exam by watching the in‑depth exam prep video training from PM Prepcast.com.

Lindsay says about the report that even after all this time of doing the research and seeing the changes over the years, it's hard not to be drawn to the fact that project management is still an exciting and growing field.

The fact that projects are still failing suggests that even with all the effort and time spent, we are still searching for that magic bullet which will ensure that we deliver.

Of course, the report doesn't give us this magic bullet, but it provides interesting insights into what you and I are doing day after day.

There are two options for you to get a copy of this report. First, if you are a free or a premium subscriber to the podcast that you're listening to right now, then check your subscription on your phone or tablet because a copy of the report is included as part of our podcast.

Your second option, which is actually the better one, is to stop by at the arraspeople.co.uk website and sign up to get your free copy, because if you sign up in that way you're also going to be invited to fill in the survey for the next report.

Now, here's your report card. Enjoy the interview.

Podcast Interview

Female Voice: Project Management Podcast's feature interview ‑‑ today with Lindsay Scott, Director of Arras People.

Cornelius Fichtner: Hello, Lindsay. Welcome back to the podcast.

Lindsay: Hi, Cornelius. Great to be back. It's been a while, so yeah, great to see you.

Cornelius Fichtner: To get us started, let's look at the background of this report itself. It is called the "Project Management Benchmark Report 2016." Why are you doing this report? What were you trying to find out?

Lindsay: We started doing the report a while back, and essentially, we wanted to try and get an agnostic view of what the project practitioners, primarily in the UK, some things about them which would help them, in terms of their development ‑‑ a kind of tool to do some comparisons with their peers.

Back in the early days, it was very much about what kind of salary they can command, what kind of rates they can command, and things about the ins and outs of their career, like their renumeration packages and things like that. Initially, it started out quite basic.

Cornelius Fichtner: For how long have you been doing this?

Lindsay: It's 11 years.

Cornelius Fichtner: Oh, wow.

Lindsay:  Now you can do the year‑on‑year comparisons, and that's what interests me ‑‑ if you can do five‑year comparisons, if things have not changed that much, but since we've started we've added a lot more things in that we feel are topical.

Each year those, baseline staff, then salaries and what have you, and then we get opinions based on what might be current issues or challenges that people are facing, or if indeed, the staff within the project management profession. Actually, we just want to get a voice out from the practitioners and see what they actually really think about some of this stuff.

Cornelius:  Let's talk about these people quickly. How did you get the data from them, and who are these project managers that provide that data to you?

Lindsay:  It's PM practitioners, so it's a number of roles from things like Portfolio Management, Project Managers, Program Managers, PMO, and that's primarily your practitioner types of roles.

We get them...obviously, the role that I primarily perform with Arras People, which is around recruitment. People always say to us, "It must be recruitment documented.

It's just going to be people that are on your database filling it out." Actually, they only constitute about 35 percent of the respondents. A lot of the people we've got...a bit like you, Cornelius. You've got a pretty good network out there online. People hear about it through various channels, not just in the UK, but across the world.

I think the fact that you've been doing it for 11 years means that you do get people coming back and taking it again and again, because they're interested in the responses.

Cornelius:  You mentioned recruitment. Is that the core business of what Arras People does?

Lindsay:  It is the core business, but the secondary side to it is we do a lot of career related stuff around project management.

Obviously the recruitment is that keeps the engine going, but we do a lot of things like one to one sessions with practitioners that have got particular challenges in their career and guidance around some of the stuff about how to get on, how to move, switch industries, that kind of stuff.

I suppose we're not a traditional recruiter in that respect because we've actually come from a project management background ourselves. It's the reason why they report as well because actually having worked in this profession before we started the business, we're interested in how project management's evolving and changing.

We'd like to be able to not just talk to our potential clients about those changes but actually practitioners as well.

Cornelius:  Since your focus is a bit on recruitment, does that mean the report is mostly interesting for project managers who are currently seeking jobs?

Above are the first few pages of the transcript. The complete PDF transcript is available to Premium subscribers only.