How You Can Apply AI in Project Management

Introduction

Artificial Intelligence and bots will soon revolutionise the way we do Project Management. Machines are great at following direction and automating daily tasks such as scheduling, tracking project progress, sending and receiving status updates etc. but that doesn’t mean that we are completely replaceable. We as Project Managers, are there to manage the unpredictability of human behaviour - something our machine friends have not quite yet mastered. Here are some ways AI and bots can make our lives better:

Integration Management

“Hey Siri! What is Sarah’s availability fo today?” or, “Hey Siri! What time will the Mobile Designs be completed today?” - Imagine that! Asking Siri or Alexa to give you real-time project updates? Well, you don’t have to because intelligent bot assistants will be integrated with Siri or Google Assistant and will instantly respond to your project management queries. 

Scope Management

Scheduling, resource allocation, monitoring and controlling are primary tasks of a project manager and AI can be applied to develop comprehensive work breakdown structures (WBS). The AI system can automate your daily tasks, send you updates when your project is running behind, or over budget, and also suggest KPIs for your team.

Time Management

AI systems can understand the WBS and suggest a number of alternative schedules to carry out the project. It can also alter schedules based on project progress and team performance through learning and understanding behaviour patterns. This can save you both time and money by increasing productivity. 

Risk Management

One of the most important factors of project management is the estimation and management of project risk. It goes beyond great planning and implementation, as there are so many unpredictable interdependencies and external factors which need to be taken into account. Modern cognitive systems use machine learning to calculate project risk that project managers may overlook by combining probabilities of huge amounts of data that is already stored in the system. Project managers are then able to take the corrective steps when needed to avoid project failure. 

Quality Management

AI systems allow project managers to focus on leveraging the quality of tasks and put their professional judgement to use instead of spending hours on going through load sof documentation. How? Well, AI assistants can study complex contracts, understand key terms, commitments, dependencies etc. and get insights at the next level. One example of how this can be applied, is Microsoft’s Cognitive Toolkit which describes artificial neural networks in a team or process and represents that information in a directed graph. 

Stakeholder Management

Keeping stakeholders aligned with project goals is a tricky task for even the most experienced project manager. AI systems are there to help us manage this more efficiently through the use of sentimental analysis algorithms, they can help us to analyse and understand stakeholders’ needs, grievances, messages and solutions.

Human Resource Management

You have an exciting project that is coming up, your company needs to build out a web application for a client and your job as the project manager is to schedule the correct resources to make up the project team. An AI system can be used to help you put the team together based off the required skillsets, comptenecy matrix, roles as well as what necessary training and skill development is needed per resource. The bots are so clever, they can even scan LinkedIn to provide you with some suitable freelancers! 

Communication

AI systems have the ability to analyse social media feeds to see what consumers are saying about certain brands or products. This can help managers extract customer feedback and understand product perceptions and the AI system can recommend changes. This enables project managers to prioritize areas that need immediate attention.

PM’s Talent Triangle

54% - That’s the amount of time Project Managers spend on daily admin tasks such as scheduling, check-ins, reports etc. in a report published by Accenture. 

1. Technical project management
2. Strategic & Business management 
3. Leadership

These are three sides of a project manager’s talent triangle and AI systems can help them improve in all of these areas by providing data-driven insights and recommendations. Instead of project managers spending most of their time on daily tasks such as scheduling, project updates, and admin, they can invest more time on value based activities which align with the strategic business goals. 

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Conclusion

So, What does that mean for Project Managers? 

Are we on the verge of extinction? The cusp of being replaced by a machine? Short answer - no. Intelligent machines can be there to fill some of the roles in project management, which will allow us to focus on more important matters such as aligning strategic business goals, creatively looking at ways we can improve, and using our emotional intelligence to focus on motivating and supporting the people within our teams - all of these tasks are beyond a machine’s capability. 

Professor Øystein D. Fjeldstad at BI Norwegian Business School, a scholar in strategic management and artificial intelligence, maintains that:

 “There’s going to be a premium on design thinking […] as well as empathy—the ability to motivate and engage with humans on an emotional level. Qualities that computers are not very good at. This comes back to the origins of leadership—setting direction and getting people to believe in that direction and to follow you.”

AI and bots are there to enhance our lives as Project Managers, not replace us. Working together harmoniously - that’s the goal.