How project information management helps firms do more with fewer people
For AECO, uncertainty is nothing new. What has changed is the intensity and concentration of the pressures facing today’s workforce: a deepening labor shortage, ongoing materials volatility and a more demanding regulatory and contractual environment. Deloitte’s 2026 Engineering and Construction Outlook highlights that the industry will need hundreds of thousands of added workers to meet projected demand, underscoring that the talent gap is structural rather than temporary. Newforma’s 2025 AECO Project & Information Management Survey reinforces that reality at the project level, with 41 percent of firms attributing project delays directly to labor shortages and 40 percent saying a limited labor pool is placing added pressure on existing staff.
There is no question that this combination of workforce scarcity and project complexity presents real challenges. At the same time, it is also forcing a reset in how AECO firms think about productivity and resilience. When nearly all players are competing for the same finite talent pool, winning firms cannot rely solely on hiring; they must lift the output and impact of every person already on the team. In that context, the way firms manage project information (how quickly teams can find answers, understand context and act) has become a primary differentiator.
When skilled labor is scarce, execution quality and speed are decided less by how many people are on a project and more by how effectively those people can access and use information. Firms that struggle to retrieve drawings, RFIs, emails and approvals quickly are at a disadvantage; every extra hour spent searching or redoing work is an hour that could have been spent being productive. By contrast, firms that have disciplined project and information management practices can compress decision cycles, reduce errors and rework and create a working environment where overstretched teams can still deliver reliably.
This is where project and information management software comes into play. Providing a single view of the entire project record—email, documents, models, RFIs, submittals, action items and decisions—gives teams the clarity they need to move confidently, even when staffing is thin or roles are shifting. Instead of knowledge being in silos, in individual inboxes or in the heads of a few senior people, information is captured once and reused across the organization. That shift is particularly powerful in an era of high turnover and tight labor markets, where preserving institutional knowledge can be as important as winning new work.
Lean Team Productivity
With a persistent labor shortfall, firms must find ways to increase output without proportionally increasing staff. Industry analyses show that productivity can drop sharply when labor is constrained, leading to extended timelines and increased cost risk when processes are not optimized. Project and information management can offset this by making every hour more productive. Robust project information practices help AECO firms in several tangible ways.
First, they reduce the need for rework by ensuring that field and office teams are always working from the latest drawings, specifications and approvals, not from outdated versions hidden in personal email threads or local folders. When everyone is aligned on current information, the risk of having to tear out or redo work because someone followed an old detail or missed a clarification drops significantly.
Second, they dramatically cut the time employees spend searching for information; by organizing project email and documents into a single view, searchable record tied to specific projects and issues. Instead of project engineers and coordinators spending hours each week digging through inboxes to reconstruct who said what and when, they can go directly to a single windowpane that points to sources of truth and move forward.
Third, they provide standardized workflows for RFIs, submittals and action items, so newer or less experienced team members can contribute effectively, even as staffing models and roles evolve. Clear, repeatable processes reduce dependence on a handful of veterans who “know how things are done” and make it easier to distribute work across a leaner, more junior team without sacrificing quality.
These improvements are not theoretical. Newforma’s own research and customer conversations show that when turnover spikes (sometimes with the majority of a small office changing in a matter of weeks) the ability to onboard new staff quickly depends on having a complete, consistent project record available from day one. Standardized processes and centralized information allow newly hired team members to find what they need without relying on informal handoffs, helping firms maintain momentum even as they reshuffle teams to cover gaps.
Today’s AECO firms are under pressure to operate as efficiently as possible with leaner teams and high expectations for responsiveness. When everyone can quickly and easily access up-to-date project information, it not only boosts productivity but also reduces burnout risk by removing some of the friction that makes days longer and more stressful for overstretched staff. In a labor market where retention is as critical as recruitment, that type of working environment becomes a competitive advantage.
Tackling Materials Volatility
Labor shortages are not the only constraint shaping project delivery. Tariffs, supply chain disruptions and fluctuating demand continue to drive materials price volatility and lead time uncertainty, which can amplify the strain on project teams already stretched thin. When teams are smaller, they have less capacity to chase down missing information or rework procurement packages; missteps become more expensive. A comprehensive, up-to-date source of project data gives teams earlier visibility into design changes and their downstream impact on scope and materials.
That visibility allows firms to identify risks sooner, such as changes that could trigger repricing or require substitutions, rather than discovering them after bids are submitted or orders are placed. At the same time, clearly documented change drivers—design revisions, owner clarifications, unforeseen conditions—create a defensible audit trail that supports timely, data-driven conversations around change orders when costs increase. Project and information management tools give teams answers without heroic effort, because the relevant emails, markups and approvals are already tied to the project record.
Improved information access also streamlines daily workflows. When submittal packages are complete, documentation is easy to find, and review cycles are structured and visible, fewer delays occur due to missing or incomplete information. That efficiency matters even more in a labor-constrained environment, where project engineers, coordinators and stakeholders may be covering more projects than before and cannot afford to lose hours to avoidable back-and-forth.
In a tight labor market, long decision cycles create a double bind: projects slip, and the people still on the job absorb the stress of trying to claw back time. Newforma’s research shows that 77 percent of AECO firms report missing deadlines due to poor project and information management, including disconnected communication and coordination. Shortening decision cycles is therefore both a schedule strategy and a workforce strategy. Project and information management tools support this in several ways.
Structured routing and reminders for RFIs and submittals reduce the likelihood that critical questions stall in individual inboxes, while transparency into bottlenecks keeps accountability clear. Teams can see where items are stuck and intervene before delays cascade into larger schedule impacts. Capturing final decisions together with their supporting context means teams do not have to relitigate issues weeks later when workloads are heavier and memories are hazy.
Linking communications directly to drawings, specifications and issues allows more work to proceed in parallel, enabling lean teams to keep momentum instead of waiting for one long email chain to resolve before taking action. When teams trust the integrity of the project record, they are more willing to move forward with confidence, which in turn reduces the mental load on already stretched staff. That confidence is especially valuable when experienced team members retire or are promoted and newer employees step into decision support roles.
Labor shortages are not just a numbers problem; they are also a retention problem. High performers have options, and they are more likely to stay with firms that equip them with modern tools, reasonable workloads and clear processes. Centralized access to the project information contributes to that environment by removing some of the daily frustrations that drive people mad—lost emails, unclear responsibilities, repeated rework and constant fire drills caused by missing data. In an industry where reputation travels fast, being known as a firm that supports its teams with solid systems can be as important as being known for quality builds.
Industry disruption will continue and the firms that succeed will be those that can prove impacts, move decisions forward, and minimize rework with the teams they have, not the teams they wish they could hire. Newforma’s 2025 survey findings make the connection explicit: 41 percent of project delays are tied to labor shortages, but 77 percent of firms miss deadlines because of poor project and information management. In other words, firms cannot control the macro level labor market, but they can control how effectively they equip their people to navigate it.
By taking a more sophisticated approach to project and information management, contractors can operate at a higher level of efficiency and resilience, even as workforce constraints persist. They can onboard new staff faster, reduce dependency on any single individual and present themselves to owners and partners as organized, responsive and easy to work with. Those are the firms that will stand out in a constrained labor market, not just as contractors of choice, but as employers of choice as well.
Peter Cannone
Peter Cannone is the President and CEO of Newforma, where he leads the company’s mission to improve how AECO firms manage project information and collaborate across complex projects. Newforma empowers AECO firms by delivering technology solutions that drive better outcomes for all stakeholders throughout the construction project lifecycle.