Project Management Scholarship Winning Essay Article 3 of 3

Thank you to all of the students who submitted essays for our 2023/2024 Project Management Scholarship. The topic this year was

"How do you think artificial intelligence will best benefit the project management industry in the next 5 years? What risks do you see with artificial intelligence for project management?"

Congratulations to our 3 winners, whose essays we are excited to showcase in a three-part article series. Third up is Aiden McMahon. Please enjoy Aiden's essay below.

     AI-based systems are already well-established and have proven successful in the market outside of your company. They have been developed for many years. It's interesting to note that artificial intelligence (AI) is present in many applications that we may not have always been aware of, like generated backgrounds in remote meeting software, Alexa personal assistants, self-driving cars, autonomous robots, and many more. Then, in 2022, generative AI for creating images, texts, and music became accessible to the general public. The ability of AI to enhance the work of creatives is a game-changer for the industry because it demonstrates that no field is exempt from outside change. Your company has probably experienced an increase in internal automation. This could involve thorough event logging, which is frequently done down to the level of individual work transactions and is meant to improve real-time monitoring. This in turn makes it possible to report on complex metrics using business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing (DW) tools like automated dashboards. In order to improve cost accounting, many businesses have implemented time tracking systems. Your company's data footprint grows as a result of all these technologies, and this data can be utilized to train AI systems. It's highly likely that your company is currently researching, developing, or developing AI systems. You may even be involved with such initiatives. The idea is that a "perfect storm" of technological change is occurring right now. The way your company handles its IT infrastructure has grown more sophisticated, and vendors are now providing useful AI platforms. Over time, this will only get worse.

     Numerous facets of project management work are being automated with the use of AI-based technology. These are all minor but very helpful adjustments that could reduce a PM's daily workload by two to five percent. Each of them isn't that dangerous on its own. When combined and executed in a comparatively brief timeframe, such as the upcoming years, they present a noteworthy obstacle. These immediate dangers consist of, but are not restricted to: AI-based solutions can assist with basic project planning tasks like task identification, scheduling, estimating, and assigning personnel to tasks. support for team building Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being applied in people management systems. It makes sense to use this functionality to find possible candidates for your teams' roles and members. Such as Augmented metrics reporting. A seldom recognized issue with automated dashboards, and metrics reporting in general, is whether people understand the implications of what the metrics reveal. This is especially difficult because each team collects a different set of metrics. It would be beneficial to have AI systems that could interpret the metrics and identify possible problems that call for human intervention in real time. This extends beyond project management metrics, such as EVM measurements, and includes project-specific metrics related to sales, quality, and other areas. Taking care of risk. Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions can be applied to proactive risk mitigation, intelligent monitoring, and risk identification. Putting together status updates. Project managers are writing their status reports with the assistance of generative AI systems like ChatGPT. This could entail identifying dependency-based risks, updating projected costs and schedules, and using predictive analytics to estimate potential future value. Identifying the problems that need to be addressed by management. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based systems have the ability to detect fraud, possible staffing problems (like upcoming resignations), and interpersonal problems within and between teams through intelligent monitoring.

     Artificial Intelligence (AI) and technology in general have been used in the legal field for many years. Originally intended to help lawyers, I'm seeing generative AI being used to draft business documents like memos of understanding (MoUs) and statements of work (SoWs).

     Nothing on the aforementioned list cannot currently be enhanced in some way with artificial intelligence. The question is not whether these things will occur, but rather when they will become commonplace.

     Additionally, I anticipate a decrease in project management workload as a result of new human behaviors made possible by intelligent support. Software that gives its human users contextualized advice is known as intelligent assistance. One of the earliest examples of such a system was Microsoft's Clippy, which offered tips on how to use Microsoft Office. Although most people considered Clippy to be annoying, the concept of the product was appealing. People are now using ChatGPT and other similar systems to ask for advice, and in practice, they work pretty well. When that platform switches from GPT3 to GPT4, the majority of the time, the advice should be of very high quality. For PMs, this has important ramifications: AIs will be questioned by team members for guidance or information. When you can instantaneously communicate with the AI, why wait to speak with your PM? More importantly, because the AI is using a wider variety of data, you will probably receive a better response. Furthermore, by asking the questions you are, why take the chance that the PM will interpret what is happening incorrectly? While many problems are best resolved through interpersonal communication, many more can be resolved through automation. As a result, PMs will put forth less effort in these kinds of interactions. AIs will be questioned by stakeholders for guidance or information. In a similar vein, when the AI can provide a prompt response, why would project stakeholders go to the PM? PMs will put in less effort on this kind of work, to reiterate. AIs will be consulted by project managers for guidance or information. After being trained on the "body of knowledge for PMs" and associated data, AIs will be a valuable tool for PMs. In the long run, this might even lessen the stigma associated with being a PM by lowering the knowledge requirements for PMs.

     The inference is that AI will diminish the people-oriented work on which many current PMs hope to hang their hats. This is especially true for any project where the PM serves as a liaison between various groups. Therefore, there is a clear chance to cut back on people-oriented activities in addition to the fact that a large portion of the paperwork associated with project management will be automated. Many of these adjustments relieve current project managers of burdensome tasks for individuals. They benefit greatly from this since it allows them to concentrate on adding value. Project managers may be able to advance into influential roles within their companies as a result of this new focus, which may also lead to working in a more strategic rather than tactical manner.

     The sentimental talk that "opportunities are just threats in disguise" is not to be believed. Many of these adjustments will help organizations reduce the risks and expenses associated with project management ways of working (WoW) and thinking (WoT). Increased automation allows businesses to enhance work flow, frequently by cutting out the "middle man" role of the project manager. There won't be as much need for project managers when a sizable portion of the work is automated. Clearly. If becoming a PM is your dream job, there will likely be fierce competition for a limited number of positions. It is my hope that as the demand for project managers declines, businesses will decide to make investments in their personnel and help them move into better positions.

Aiden McMahon

Aiden is currently pursuing his undergraduate degree in engineering at Manhattan College in New York. In addition to his academic pursuits, he actively participates in Division 1 track and field for the school. Aiming for the NCAA nationals, he aspires to demonstrate his commitment both on the track and in his studies.