This systematic literature review aims to (a) understand the current state of gamification as a strategy for improving processes associated with software project management and (b) define future gamification in the context of software project management. For these purposes, we identified and analyzed studies based on research interests, including software project management areas explored with gamification, gamification elements used in this context, research methods, and industry type. Our findings indicate a predominance of studies in project management areas related to integration, resources, and scoping. The most commonly reported research method is the solution proposal, and the most commonly used gamification element is the point system. Future research must focus on addressing unexplored project management areas, which can be intervened with gamification as an improvement strategy to facilitate the implementation of good practices that impact the success of software development projects. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.