Whether the shift is toward business Agility in its entirety, or simply toward Agile project budgets, it’s indisputable that the Agile mindset is permeating businesses big and small, locally and internationally.

Agile is traditionally a software development philosophy, one that emphasizes:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

It’s a philosophy that has garnered its own subset of project management methodologies, including (but not limited to) Adaptive Software Development (ASD), Crystal Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Extreme Programming (XP), Feature-Driven Development (FDD), Kanban (depending on how you use it), Lean, and Scrum.

With all the emphasis on Agile in the project management community, in project management tools, and in project processes now outside of IT (like Agile marketing), I decided to create a roundup of the top Agile project management statistics we’ve seen in 2017—and the ones that will continue to affect the industry into 2018 and beyond.

With that in mind, let’s jump in!

Agile project management statistics

1. Almost three-quarters (71%) of organizations report using Agile approaches sometimes, often, or always. (Source: Project Management Institute)

2. Microsoft Project is the most popular project management software, whereas Atlassian Jira is the most popular Agile-specific tool. (Source: Capterra)

3. According to the Gartner Hype Cycle, Agile project management is reaching the peak of inflated expectations—in other words, problems with Agile will start to make themselves better known to the PM community. (Source: Gartner)

4. Over a third (34%) of projects aren’t baselined at the planning stage. (Source: Wellingtone)

5. In New Zealand, 80% of organizations rely on PRINCE2 guidelines. (Source: KPMG)

6. Over a quarter (27.4%) of manufacturing organizations rely solely on Agile, whereas 56.6% rely on “a combination of methodologies.” (Source: LiquidPlanner)

7. The average Agile project manager salary is $84,134 in the United States. (Source: Glassdoor)

8. Of failed Agile implementations, 63% of respondents in one study blamed the clash between their business’s culture and Agile’s business philosophy. (Source: VersionOne)

9. 76% of businesses in the Netherlands and Belgium believe that Agile projects will outnumber Waterfall projects by 2020. (Source: KPMG)

10. Agile projects are 28% more successful than traditional projects. (Source: PwC)

11. The U.S. government lost $32 billion to failed IT projects in 2017. (Source: Software Solutions Symposium)

12. Of communications service providers (CSPs) that have adopted bimodal IT, 93% rely on Agile project management methodologies. (Source: Gartner)

13. 50% of team members are motivated more by team success than by the company’s (27%) or individual’s (23%) personal goals. (Source: Atlassian)

14. By 2030, artificial intelligence will automate 80% of routine Agile work. (Source: Smarter with Gartner)

15. The average salary for an Agile software developer is $93,439 for women. For men, that figure jumps to $101,584 per year. (Source: Payscale)

More Agile project management statistics or resources?

By no means do these statistics cover all of Agile project management—nor do they touch complex subjects like #NoEstimates. (If anyone has statistics relating to that debate, please drop them below!)

I’d love to know what you think about these statistics. Did any of them surprise you? Do you have statistics to add? Be sure to leave your reaction in the comments below.