Ryan FowlerThe Coders Guild has issued a strong warning to UK SMEs over the hidden cost of poor project management, estimating tens of billions are being lost annually due to unstructured workflows and a lack of formal training.
According to new data compiled from leading industry sources, knowledge workers lose an average of 13.7 hours per week due to duplication, tool-switching, and unclear responsibilities — equivalent to £13,000 per employee each year. For a typical five-person team, that adds up to £66,000 in wasted salary value.
Crispin Read (pictured), founder of The Coders Guild, said: “These hidden losses are avoidable – and fixable. Most SMEs rely on ‘accidental’ project managers with no formal training. That’s not sustainable. Project leadership is a skill, not a side job. And the ROI on getting it right is phenomenal.”
Research from Be the Business shows that a sustained 1% annual productivity uplift across the UK’s 5.6 million SMEs could add £94 billion to national output. Applying this to individual firms equates to £65,000 in additional profit per small business, underlining the economic potential of improved delivery.
Benchmarking from the Project Management Institute (PMI) reveals that organisations lose 11.4% of every project pound due to delays and overruns, amounting to £17,100 on a typical £150,000 SME project. This figure can be cut significantly through best-practice methods, which reduce waste to £7,200.
Despite the clear financial case, only 47% of projects are led by trained professionals and fewer than half of UK firms offer accredited project management training.
The Coders Guild is aiming to change that through its government-funded training programmes and Skills Bootcamps, helping SMEs adopt tools such as Trello, Asana and Monday.com while equipping teams with agile delivery and risk management skills.
Read added: “Proper project management isn’t overhead – it’s the shortest route to improved margins and happier teams. With simple tools like Kanban boards, project charters, and risk logs, SMEs can cut wasted time by hours per week per person.”
The organisation is urging business leaders to consider accredited project training as a direct lever to reduce inefficiency and unlock growth.
