{"id":50075,"date":"2024-02-01T07:13:42","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T12:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/?p=50075"},"modified":"2024-03-08T09:17:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T14:17:32","slug":"ai-will-save-not-kill-project-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/blog\/ai-will-save-not-kill-project-management\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Will Save \u2013 Not Kill \u2013 Project Management"},"content":{"rendered":"
Gartner predicts that 80 percent of project management work<\/a> will be done by artificial intelligence by 2030. Project managers, before you let that data point flood you with fear, listen up: AI is not going to replace you. But it will make you more efficient and effective, giving you greater forward-looking insights and increasing your power over steering projects to success.<\/p>\n Consider this second statistic: Organizations invest $48 trillion<\/a> in projects annually, but only a little over one-third of projects are considered successful.<\/strong> This is why a leap in maturity for project and program management is long overdue. Many project managers still rely on slides, spreadsheets and manual record-keeping \u2013\u00a0this works okay for hitting deadlines and deliverables but is woefully insufficient for large projects with evolving targets.<\/p>\n Much of the anxiety surrounding AI stems from a general misunderstanding of project management.<\/p>\n Everybody thinks they can do project management because they can hold a status meeting and create a list of tasks. This is a vastly oversimplified idea of project management. Far beyond basic taskmaster duties, project managers must be able to wield influence over teams, projects, deadlines and budgets that aren\u2019t their own.<\/strong><\/p>\n Where does that influence come from? Solid data and insights. AI is just the tool to give project managers the data<\/a> they need to anticipate problems early on, set appropriate budgets and accurately set deadlines and timelines.<\/p>\n For example, project managers regularly put out meeting agendas listing attendees and then create post-meeting notes. That\u2019s a treasure trove of information an AI tool such as Copilot in Microsoft Teams<\/a> can automate. Copilot can track who showed up against who was invited, alerting early on if a key stakeholder is missing meetings. Flagging that risk early on will help a project manager avoid all sorts of complications down the road. Copilot can also track when teams make key decisions, helping project managers determine the cost of the meeting versus the value of the output.<\/strong><\/p>\n AI will also lighten the heavy administrative burden of project management<\/a>, allowing project managers to spend more time on high-value tasks such as meeting with stakeholders and coaching their teams. A tool like Copilot can transcribe and summarize status meetings, easily saving project managers a few hours of low-value-add work.<\/p>\n \u201cAI offers an opportunity to free up project manager time and allow them to do what they do best \u2013\u00a0lead teams and get the very best out of people. This will no doubt deliver far better results, fewer errors, more motivation, and greater success,\u201d says Peter Taylor, vice president of global project management at Ceridian and author of AI and the Project Manager: How the Rise of Artificial Intelligence Will Change Your World.<\/p>\n To start generating value from AI now, project managers should first look at documentation and reporting. This is where project managers tend to spend a lot of time for little value.<\/strong><\/p>\n There are AI tools on the market now \u2014 again, such as Microsoft\u2019s Copilot \u2014 that can summarize meeting notes and help repurpose data such as user stories and sales reports in minutes. No more manual retyping and repurposing required.<\/p>\nAI Frees Project Managers For High-Value Work<\/h2>\n
How Project Managers Can Leverage Value From AI Today<\/h2>\n