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Artificial Intelligence has been an interesting topic to be discussed during the past years. The Project Economy had recently conducting a study about it and has interesting insights from survey looking into the unexplored potential of Artificial Intelligence within Project Management with participating from 772 experts across the world. These 772 experts and practitioners were from 95 countries, 42% were project managers and 28.4% were senior managers or executives.
Experts advocate for embracing AI in project management, stressing its inevitable transformation of project management practices and the need for proactive integration.
1. Recognition of AI’s potential in project management
Experts are increasingly acknowledging its potential to revolutionise project management practices. 74.79% of experts recognise AI’s power to enhance project execution, decision making, and alignment with strategic goals. With the increase of technology maturity for project management, it is hopeful for the success rates of projects to rise from the historical 30%. AI would thrive in administrative and manual tasks such as creating workflows and meeting minutes, thus improving project monitoring and accelerate reporting and relieving resources for other critical tasks or creative avenues. This will shift the project manager’s role to a greater focus on stakeholder management and coaching.
2. Fear of AI job takeover
The survey found that only 29% of these experts fear AI taking over jobs as many of these experts see AI as an enabler and assistant to their work. But it is predicted that this fear level will rise to 40% in the next 15 years which conveys the long-term impact of AI and its unknown potential. Project management is largely a people job which involves stakeholder management, effective and thoughtful communications within and beyond the project team, and deliberate leadership for success. AI cannot replicate the inherently human nature of project management.
3. Improvements in project delivery with AI tools
Organisations have already experienced positive impacts of incorporating AI, with 41.06% of experts from the survey reporting significant enhancements in project delivery since adopting AI tools. There are a multitude of tools on the market such as Ayanza and Clickup and it depends on the functionalities and integration necessary for the team.
4. The urgent need of skill adaptation
62% of the surveyed experts highlight the urgent need of skill adaptation. It is important to gain new skills including data analytics and AI based tool management to leverage AI effectively.
Data analytics and automation startups are currently assisting organizations in streamlining and enhancing the functions of their project management offices (PMOs). They can assist in better monitoring of project progress, ability to anticipate potential problems and automatically fix simple problems, selecting the best project management tools for each project (Nieto-Rodriguez & Vargas, 2023).
Having skill adaptation to better manage AI tools will make it easier for the organisations to transition AI tools into their work.
5. Emphasis on sustainability in project management
The survey revealed that 82.86% of experts highlight the importance of incorporating sustainability considerations into project management strategies, including implementing AI in project management. Ricardo and Antonio encouraged project professionals to not forget the importance of sustainability and diversity when embracing AI and highlighted the possibilities that AI can bring to these initiatives that more and more people incorporate into project delivery.
PMLogic shares the same attitude as these experts in that PMLogic values and promotes sustainability, embracing that sustainability should be constantly considered in project management as this means completing current projects successfully without compromising future generations.
6. AI’s role in promoting diversity and inclusion
25.50% of the experts have said that they see AI playing a role in eliminating biases and fostering diversity within project management. The webinar panelists mentioned that in recruitment processes, AI could be implemented in a way where its role is to eliminate elements that are not related to the expertise of the candidates to provide a more objective opinion when selecting the candidates best suited for the roles. However, the effectiveness of AI in promoting diversity and inclusion ultimately depends on the quality and diversity of the data used to train these systems. If the datasets used to train AI algorithms are not diverse or if they contain biases, there's a concern that without careful oversight and intervention, AI systems could inadvertently encode and reinforce societal biases present in the data.
7. Concerns about ethical implications in AI decision-making
There are ethical considerations surrounding the use of AI in decision-making processes. While AI is just a tool, some experts express concerns about its potential biases or unintended consequences. The webinar panelist gave the example of comparing it to learning from a book or imitating an art student copying the Mona Lisa, it's a process that can eventually hone a project manager's skills, but it's essential to navigate these ethical concerns responsibly.
8. AI as a catalyst for innovation in project management
AI technologies enable the development of new tools and approaches that can enhance project management practices. AI serves as both an enabler and an accelerator, freeing up project managers from mundane tasks so they can focus on more impactful aspects of a project. The panellists believe that AI is an essential part of innovation in project management as a fundamental component of driving efficiency and effectiveness. By assigning AI administrative tasks, project managers can focus on innovation, decision-making, and contributing to the project management field at large to increase the success rate of projects.
9. Challenges and barrier to AI integration
Integrating AI in project management practice is not an instant process. It has a few challenges with ethical concerns, skill gaps, implementation complexity, and resistance from the organization to invest in AI for their strategy. Continuous learning is crucial for project managers to stay updated on recent technological advancements and fill any knowledge gaps. This ongoing learning process ensures they can effectively leverage tools like AI to their fullest potential.
By acknowledging and addressing the potential challenges associated with AI in project management, organizations can harness its transformative potential while minimizing risks and maximizing value.
10. Investment in AI exploration
While it is proven that AI would be such a powerful tool when integrated into the work of project management, experts do not want to invest resources to explore AI’s potential. The possible reasons behind this are that they are not willing to give up these resources that they could be using in their ongoing projects which would be their main priority at the moment. Unfortunately, without investment it is hard to progress with AI in project management. It would be difficult to highlights areas within project management that AI would be most effective in and there would be no practical testing to see how organisations can take in AI so it can benefit them. Investing in seeing the potential of AI is crucial to ensure money and time is not wasted.
AI's integration into project management methodologies promises efficiency, streamlining operations, and empowering professionals to make informed decisions, driving success in future projects while navigating ethical considerations
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