How Artificial Intelligence can help Project Managers

Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have numerous business applications. We already know that the most important AI capabilities are based on large amounts of data, finding patterns, learning from them, and making predictions. Our prospect is that AI will be an emerging trend in project management due to its unique ability to monitor specific patterns and forecast project scenarios and outcomes.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer confined to cutting-edge IT and technology applications. AI has already begun to make inroads into more traditional settings to augment or replace tasks traditionally performed by humans, including project managers. AI is already being used for administrative tasks such as maintaining registers and logs, automating meeting preparation such as room booking, emailing invitations, agenda drafting, and meeting minuting. It will gradually improve its ability to handle more complex project management tasks.

What does this imply? What do project managers need to know to stay on the cutting edge of this emerging technology, which has the potential to significantly impact the profession's future? Let’s take a look at these 5 aspects:

1. Artificial intelligence-powered tools will take over administrative tasks for project managers.

AI-powered tools can automate functions such as meeting planning, reminders, daily updates, and other administrative tasks. This allows project managers and team members to concentrate on higher-level, more complex activities and planning.

According to KPMG's "AI Transforming the Enterprise," organizations that have invested in AI have seen an average 15% increase in productivity. According to PMI's "AI@Work" report, project leaders on the cutting edge of AI and other technology frequently report that using AI has reduced the time they spend on activities such as monitoring progress, managing documentation, and activity and resource planning.

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2. AI systems can assist in keeping projects on track and within budget.

We'll be able to predict how much a project will cost and how long it will take with a much higher degree of confidence by using AI-powered data analysis that looks at data from previous projects.

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3. To provide insights, AI tools can analyze data from current and previous projects.

More than merely estimating costs and deadlines are possible with data analysis. With the aid of AI and data-driven insights, project managers will continue to guide projects through difficult choices and unforeseen obstacles.

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4. Better Risk Management

In the near future, AI could convert project managers' mind maps into a semantic network and derive tasks and their relationships from it. AI-based project scheduling, for example, could incorporate lessons learned from previous projects and suggest multiple possible schedules based on the context and dependencies. Furthermore, based on historical team performance and project progress, project plans could be adapted and re-baselined in near-real-time. Using real-time project data analysis, an AI system could even alert the project manager to potential risks and opportunities.

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5. Enhanced People Management

AI excels at repetitive, data-driven tasks. Project managers have always prioritized the 'iron triangle' of time, cost, and scope, frequently at the expense of critical areas such as people management. This means that by automating routine data-driven tasks, AI frees up project management teams to concentrate on core areas such as people management, project vision, team building, and network development. AI can predict deviations from a program's schedule, but it cannot solve them. It cannot resolve the conflicts caused by a deviation or obtain the necessary consensus to get a project back on track.

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Key take-aways

As a conclusion, we may say that Project managers must stay up to date on the latest AI applications in the project management space to be 'AI ready.' It is important to stay up-to-date to new applications, for example solutions like Reconstruct, a visual data analytics platform that pulls information from the project schedule in Primavera P6 PPM as well as videos and photos taken by crane cameras and drones, we can already see how intelligently AI is being applied in the Oracle toolkit. There are better ways to represent the timetable than just a Gantt chart. Plans may be compared to the visual data, and any slippage, new risks, or problems can be examined. New ways of thinking and AI software offer a fresh perspective on project development, which can then be shared with stakeholders.

But apart from software solutions, we must invest in developing complementary skills such as leadership, emotional intelligence, personal communication (conflict resolution, consensus building, and persuasion), and creative problem solving. These 'human-centered' skills are the grease that keeps every project's machinery running smoothly - and they are currently, and for the foreseeable future, outside the realm of AI.

What do you think? Comments are welcome!

References

“AI will transform project management. Are you ready?”, PWC, https://www.pwc.ch/en/publications/2019/ai-will-transform-project-management-en2019-web.pdf

“5 Implications of Artificial Intelligence for Project Management”, PM Network, https://www.pmi.org/learning/publications/pm-network/digital-exclusives/implications-of-ai

“Impact of Artificial Intelligence AI on Project Management | RPS.” Impact of Artificial Intelligence AI on Project Management | RPS, www.rpsgroup.com, https://www.rpsgroup.com/insights/the-impact-of-ai-on-project-management

“How Artificial Intelligence Can Help in Project Management | Modis.” https://www.modis.com/en-be/insights/blog/how-artificial-intelligence-can-help-in-project-management/

“AI Transforming the Enterprise.” advisory.kpmg.us, https://advisory.kpmg.us/articles/2019/ai-transforming-enterprise.html

“AI @ Work”, Project Management Institute, https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/ai-at-work-new-projects-new-thinking