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Najjar and Sarraj (2019) explain how AI could transform PM by providing actionable insights and strategies in A virtual partnership? How Artificial Intelligence will disrupt project management and change the role of project managers (PWC.com). This includes PM tools providing insight into the possible outcomes of a project which will enhance the quality and agility of decision-making.

Machine learning algorithms can be used to provide estimates of the duration and resource requirements for a project based on expert knowledge and lessons learned from previous projects. Optimising schedules is a way to minimise total project cost.

The future of PM work: a marriage made in cyber heaven?

By 2030, 80% of the work of today’s PM discipline will be eliminated as AI takes on traditional PM functions, such as data collection, tracking and reporting (Gartner, 2019). Digital skills are important to PMs of the future. PMI’s Pulse of the Profession report highlights the need for data science skills, innovative mindset, security and privacy knowledge, legal & regulatory compliance knowledge, ability to make data-driven decisions and collaborative leadership skills.

Furthermore, AI-based solutions currently focus on predicting the more likely outcomes of your project schedule, however they are now starting to tackle what happens when scenarios change and the impact on the underlying schedule. This, indeed, will require human intervention to fully understand implications and gather consensus on fundamental project direction decisions.

AI is a futuristic tool – available now

Despite all the hype and fascination around AI, ultimately, it is a tool to facilitate productivity. The sooner we learn to engage with it, the easier all our jobs will become. Roles are therefore likely to change as tools increasingly augment our project management capability.

The project manager will need to integrate these capabilities into how they deliver projects and this should allow focus to be far more on the softer skills such as decision making, influencing, change management and conflict resolution.

Project managers must ensure they have the skills to use these systems; in the short term this will differentiate them until this capability is seen as the norm. Therefore, project success (as ever) is just as much about people.

Conclusion

Human-machine collaboration will have a profound effect on how we deliver projects. Rather than resist the change, we should embrace it. We are in an embryonic stage of development for AI in PM, which will accelerate as companies strive for efficiency gains and RoI. Investing in AI increases immediate costs; however, it reduces costs in the long run. In a period of 12 to 18 months, McKinsey observed that businesses found a 15-20% cost reduction using AI and related technologies.

While many businesses are starting to realise that implementing AI helps PM success, it’s important to remember the need for solid foundations. It requires standardised, efficient processes and high data maturity or risk project capability with bad decisions and inefficiency. By spending the time building foundations, AI can get off to an exceptional start.