Project Management Market Overview

Project management tools have become essential infrastructure for modern teams, with the market expanding rapidly.

Market Dynamics

• Market Size: ~$7B (2024)
• Growth Rate: 15%+ CAGR
• Driver: Remote/hybrid work normalization

Category Evolution

2010s: Jira dominates engineering
2015s: Asana, Monday emerge for business teams
2020s: Linear redefines developer experience
2024+: AI-native tools emerging

Segmentation

Key Trends

• Docs + Projects convergence: Notion leading this shift
• Developer-first UX: Linear setting new standards
• AI features: Auto-triage, smart assignments
• Platform plays: Tools becoming operating systems

Project Management Competitive Dynamics

The Linear Effect

Linear proved that developer experience matters:

• Keyboard-first design
• Sub-100ms interactions
• Opinionated workflows

This raised the bar for the entire category.

Competitive Vectors

1. Speed & UX

User expectation: "As fast as a local app"
Reality check: Most tools feel like 2010 web apps
Winner: Linear, Height

2. Flexibility vs. Opinions

3. Ecosystem & Integrations

• GitHub/GitLab integration depth
• Slack/Teams notifications
• CI/CD pipeline visibility
• Documentation linking

Switching Considerations

Unlike CRM/ERP, project management switching is relatively low friction:

• Data is less sensitive
• Import/export is simpler
• Training is minimal

Teams switch tools more often here—which means UX matters more.