Tuesday Brief: IT project cost overruns are plaguing organizations worldwide, with nearly half of all projects exceeding their initial budgets. The culprit isn't poor planning, it's predictable estimation failures that can be systematically addressed. Today we're exploring expert solutions to fix your cost estimation process, plus tomorrow's live session will show you how to streamline project workflows in Jira.
August 26, 2025
In This Issue:
Featured Article: Why IT Cost Estimates Fail and How to Fix Them
Expert Spotlight: Meet MPUG MVP Nenad Trajkovski
Community Poll: Share your biggest estimation challenge
Live Event (8/27): How to Make Efficient Workflows in Jira
PM Best Practices: The 5-15% Rule for Project Budgets
Featured Article: Why IT Cost Estimates Fail and How to Fix Them
PMI's research reveals a troubling reality: only 57% of projects finish within their initial budgets. For IT projects involving software development or new technologies, the failure rate is even higher.
Software development expert Tom DeMarco identifies four critical reasons behind these inaccuracies and provides actionable solutions: lack of estimating experience, bias toward underestimating, rushed estimate creation, and management pressure for false precision.
Discover practical strategies like implementing Management Reserve (5-15% of cost baseline), building lessons-learned databases, and establishing processes for revised estimates. As DeMarco reminds us: "You can't control what you can't measure."
Get to know one of MPUG's most valued contributors in this insightful interview. Nenad shares his journey from enterprise systems development to project management expertise, revealing what took him years to understand about adaptability in project management.
Key insights from the conversation:
Why project management is as much about people as processes and tools
The importance of embracing flexibility and responding to change
His approach to running Scrum projects with Project for the Web
Nenad's expertise in both traditional and agile methodologies makes him a unique voice in the project management community.
Live Event (8/27): How to Make Efficient Workflows in Jira
Join Nenad Trajkovski tomorrow for an interactive deep dive into Jira workflow optimization. Discover how workflows are much more than simple state transitions—they're the backbone of efficient project execution.
What You'll Learn:
How to create and customize workflows for different project types
Assigning workflows to schemas and projects
Best practices for workflow design and implementation
Interactive Q&A with workflow troubleshooting
🗓️ Wednesday, August 27 🕛 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT 📍 Live on Zoom 🏅 1 PMI PDU: Business Acumen
MPUG host live events with leading experts on Wednesdays from 12:00pm - 1:00pm ET! MPUG members get access to live events where you get direct access to industry leaders, actionable insights, hands-on training, and opportunities to earn PDU's.
PM Best Practices: The 5-15% Rule for Project Budgets
Always include a Management Reserve of 5-15% of your cost baseline for large or complex projects. This reserve covers "unknown unknowns"—unforeseen work that's still within project scope. Simple formula: Project Budget = Cost Baseline + Management Reserve. The percentage depends on project complexity, but having this buffer can mean the difference between project success and budget overruns.
