There is currently a lot fear in the project management community. That jobs will be lost and that project manages will be made redundant by the new wave of progress in artificial intelligence. Project managers haven't been trained in implementing artificial intelligence and are worried that the technology will take their jobs.

Artificial Intelligence is not going to end project management, but here’s how I think it’s going to go down.

Significant Changes Are Happening

I do think that AI is going to change project management significantly. The best project managers are going to do what the best always do. They’re going to use the tools available to them to make changes to the way they manage their careers, and I think it’s going be a great thing. Those who are able to use it are going to have more freedom. They’re going to have better outputs; they’re going to manage their projects better.

AI can handle the data-heavy lifting, freeing project managers to focus on critical thinking, problem-solving, and stakeholder engagement, which are essential for project success. ~ Eric Larson, Co-founder of the Digital Project Management community

Education Will Shift

Do we need to have project management as a formal, higher learning degree? Perhaps not, although there are two things that remain vital: The Basics. Range.

The Basics: Fundamental project management thinking is not going to become a useless skill. On the contrary, it is likely more important as we transition into a time where algorithms give us increasing outputs. If you do not have an almost intuitive sense for the fundamentals and an ability to discern high quality from low, you will not be able to tell fact from fiction. And algorithms do sometimes give us fiction.

Range: The top PM will need to learn a wide set of skills: be someone who can use AI, someone who can code, someone who can take information from different areas and put them together. We’re not quite at a stage yet where AI is able to do that. If I know some things about engineering, marketing, construction, business, sports, etc etc… AND I’m able to put all those things together and use AI to draw inferences, then I can make better decisions.

You be the Pilot.

I think as artificial intelligence tools improve, speed is going to make a large difference. Soon we will be able to speak to the AI, have real-time conversations and ask the right questions. Imagine having a meeting with an artificial advisor. When we are able to shorten the input-output cycle we can get more done. However we will still need human intelligence to understand where its outputs are not correct and where they can be improved. Without the human layer on top, things still fall apart.

Going forward, the weakest members of the project team are going to be unnecessary; roles are going to be fulfilled by AI. The administration roles, taking action items and delegating them to people, composing simple emails etc. That work is going to disappear. The project management role is not going to go away. It’s going to stay.

For a long while, there will be a place for both project managers and their AI copilots.

I think that project teams will be smaller. We may not need as many people to do the same amount of work, but the people that we do recruit will be of higher quality. The standard will not be lowered simply because we have AI. However, artificial intelligence might liberate the project manager in the same way that the car liberated the horse from its life of death-by-overwork.

AI is not here to replace project managers but to augment their capabilities. The real value lies in the collaboration between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. ~ Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, Former Chair of the Project Management Institute

A-motional Intelligence?

And then what about emotions? Are artificial intelligence models able to understand these? Not yet. We are not even remotely close to human emotions being replaced by the machine, and a big part of project management is dealing with emotions. The project management professional is part scientist, part planner, part psychiatrist, part relationship expert. We deal with people and their perceptions of what we’re doing. We need to get stakeholders on our side, overcoming obstacles with us. So future project management places more emphasis on the skills of emotional management. The PM takes the data and the insights and uses their human intelligence to understand cause and affect with a depth that the machine cannot yet replicate. Depth that comes from being human. With emotions, desires, fears and aspirations.

We’re moving towards a future where AI will handle the routine tasks, and project managers will need to develop higher-order skills such as emotional intelligence and strategic thinking. ~ Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick at Wired

The New Workflow

Let’s look at the workflow of someone using AI and where the technology might add value:

Firstly, your place of work literally could be anywhere in the world. You don’t need to be tied to an office. All you need is high high speed internet and the ability for AI to assist quickly. I think you’ll be able to work anywhere in the world as long as you have the correct remote work skills, and those skills are something that we definitely need to learn.

So you get up in the morning, go to work, open emails. You have 4 emails about a mining project in Malaysia and 12 emails (plus a report) concerning a road upgrade in Romania. What you’d like to do is synthesize them, put them together and summarize them? AI will help here. It might then tell you whether reducing funding to your engineering team will slow progress by 3 months or 2 years. This is incredibly useful and time saving. What it will not tell you is the impact this will have on a major stakeholder, and your largest client.

After you have made your decision, you then store the information in your head and and hope that you are able to recall it later when the Director comes knocking. But it would be so much better if that information could go into a planning tool. Along with a timeline and detailed meta-data. AI has you covered.

Now is the time to have a face-to-face meeting with your whole team. Using a combination of voice transcription and AI, this meeting will be even more effective. The algorithm will turn raw information into actionable items and assign them to an owner. That’s what the AI does.

We could go on and on. The only limit is our imagination.

Conclusion

Artificial intelligence has the power to change the future of project management. However it will also put power into the hands of the skilled project manager. Those who are able to make the most use of their new co-pilot will be able to create tremendous value for themselves and their projects. We should not be scared of the new revolution. We should see it as with any previous positive revolution. Something to be excited for. Something to learn and grow into. With the correct mindset this will be a turning point in the profession. Start to explore AI tools and technologies now. Invest in learning new skills, stay updated with industry trends, and integrate AI into your workflows to enhance your capabilities. By doing so, you'll not only stay relevant but also drive greater success in your projects. The future of project management is here. Those who adapt, will thrive even more than before.