The Roster Nobody Double Checks: Why Resource Data Kills On-Time Delivery
Only 9% of organizations fully trust their resource capacity data. Explore why inconsistent inputs force project teams to pad numbers and how PMOs can fix capacity planning.
Only 9% of organizations fully trust the resource data they use to staff their own projects.
That is not a rounding error. That is nearly everyone planning enterprise capacity against a number they do not quite believe.
Runn's 2026 resource management survey backs it up:
- 47% cannot see capacity against demand clearly enough to plan.
- 63% blame inconsistent inputs for capacity planning failures.
- On-time delivery has slid from 80% in 2021 to under 74% today.
Many leaders plan capacity for a living, deciding what gets funded, what remains a bet, and what waits. The hard part was never missing data—it is data nobody fully trusts, leading teams to quietly pad their numbers to compensate.
Conducting From an Unreliable Roster
A conductor does not re-confirm every musician showed up before the downbeat. The roster is supposed to be reliable.
When it is not, a sick soloist still gets a part written for them, or two chairs sit empty because someone assumed a player was unavailable who actually was. The score is wrong before the first note plays.
Most PMOs are conducting from a roster they do not trust.
The Capacity Reality Check: If someone asked how much real capacity your team has this quarter, would you trust your own answer?