PM101-15 Can ChatGPT Replace YOU as a Project Leader?

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We are being bombarded with the idea that AI will replace a lot of us.? BUT what I am seeing is just another tool.

Let me explain…

My opinions are based on working on a Ph.D. in AI 30 years ago AND following the artificial intelligence field since 1994. In addition, I have worked on industrial projects in 10 industries for the last 30+ years.

Let’s take a look at what we have accomplished so far in the last three articles: created project charter (PC), identified stakeholders and formed a steering committee, worked through their needs and defined them in RACI chart, and lastly created a strategic plan on how to execute the project by considering all of the knowledge areas plus a few new ones in a project management plan (PMP)- strategic plan.

That is a lot of fieldwork, understanding people dynamics, communicating, networking, and writing.? Everything BUT the writing is immediately off the table.? The LLM systems are regurgitators NOT soft skill geniuses that project leaders are.

BUT you might argue that they can write…

Yes, I believe that they are a tool.? They can help you create a draft of the PMP.? They can revise your write-up of the strategy for each knowledge area.? They are a tool to make you better BUT can not replace you.

Looking at the last 30 years, I have seen that robotics and computers have replaced a lot of people in the industry.? They have disrupted mostly blue-collar workers.

IMHO, AI is currently getting ready to disrupt the white color workforce.? They will be tools to help one person do more work BUT quality is a few years off.

Recently I listened to the CEO of NVIDIA discuss how each of their engineers has 10 digital engineers to help them with their work.? Amazing!!!

What does that tell us?

So STOP panicking!!!?

There will be LLMs, large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini, developed on your company's data that will help to guide you on the process and complete it more efficiently.? They will help you create documents faster BUT the human touch is not going away.

You have to remember that AI is simply operating at the data level.? It is barely able to get to the information level where it processes the data and makes some meaning of it.? It is years away from the true knowledge level of understanding that will allow it to apply from one area to another.?

In the past, Moore’s law that predicted computer capabilities would double every two years.? This rate has now become 10x in a year.? These AI systems will get better at creating BUT again the quality will be lacking. Hallucinations and biases will still exist.

The transformation I am hoping to pass on this week is to you as a project leader to start using the LLM tools to get a feel for the quality of the results in rewriting or helping you create documents.? Don’t be scared BUT be bold enough to lead the effort for your team so they are not afraid of the new shiny tools.

My four cents…

Past articles:

Failure Series and transformations (PM101-1 to PM101-11) start with

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/pm101-1-why-most-projects-successful-robert-tjphc/?trackingId=QU%2FsjzdYTyWjfZrketndYg%3D%3D

Flow Series starts with PM101-12

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/pm101-12-what-who-cares-your-project-robert-3bp6chttps://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/pm101-12-what-who-cares-your-project-robert-3bp6c