Agree the business outcome before committing delivery capacity.
Accountable roles:Sponsor + project manager
Define the outcome
Confirm investment logic
Review benefits at each gate
Evidence:Approved business case, measurable benefits and a named benefit owner.
Sources, full data and interpretation
Evidence shown comes from PMI publications dated March 2025, reviewed in September 2026. Publication year does not imply that every survey response was collected during 2025. These are reported group comparisons, not a time series, forecast or causal estimate. “pp” means percentage points.
2025 reported outcome comparisons
Measure
High business acumen
Other proficiency levels
Individual project goals
83%
78%
Organizational project goals
78%
72%
Project failure rate
8%
11%
Goal-achievement and failure measures overlap and should not be added. Business-acumen proficiency is a respondent distribution; training allocation is a separate measure. No universal target or project-health rating is inferred.
Governance practices below the charts are Nimble One recommendations, not PMI survey results, guaranteed outcomes or a complete governance framework. Tailor responsibilities and controls to the project context.