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“AI and the Project Manager: How the Rise of Artificial Intelligence Will Change Your World” by Peter Taylor is the first comprehensive book on the topic and discusses how AI will reinvent the project world and allow project managers to focus on people.
Research indicates that by 2030, 80 percent of project management tasks, such as data collection, reporting, and predictive analysis, will be carried out by AI in a consistent and efficient manner. This book aims to delve into the implications of what this will mean for project managers around the world and equips them to embrace this technological advantage for greater project success.
Packed with insights and examples from tech providers and project professionals, this book is an invaluable resource for PMO leaders, change executives, project managers, program managers, and portfolio managers. Anyone who is part of the global community of change and project leadership needs to accept and understand the fast-approaching AI technology, and this book shows how to use it to their advantage.
Rating: 7.5 – Peter Taylor’s 2021 book on AI in project management is a commendable attempt to decipher the rapidly evolving AI landscape and its effects on traditional project management roles. Taylor delineates AI applications within the project management realm into categories such as process automation, chatbots, machine learning, and the prospective concept of an autonomous project manager. However, the book’s content has struggled to keep pace with the swift advancements in AI, as evidenced by the absence of recent breakthroughs like ChatGPT. While Taylor adeptly underscores AI’s potential to streamline numerous project management tasks, he doesn’t shy away from its limitations and the indispensable human facets that AI cannot replicate. His expert standing lends credibility to the narrative, reinforced by the comprehensive research backing his claims. Despite this, the content’s freshness is waning, with more up-to-date and detailed texts now overshadowing it.
In terms of design quality, the book boasts a high-quality cover and clear typography but lacks the dynamism that color visuals would offer. It scores well on readability, with well-structured chapters and accessible language. The applicability of Taylor’s categorized AI functionalities to real-world project management scenarios adds practical value, assisting project managers in discerning how AI can be integrated into their work. Taylor’s originality in linking AI with project management is notable, as he was among the first to do this. However, the field has since burgeoned with more in-depth works, suggesting that the book’s originality, while still relevant, is no longer unique.
Case studies in the book aid comprehension but fall short in specificity and authenticity. Meanwhile, the book’s value is a double-edged sword; it serves as a foundational resource but will likely become dated.
The research quality is robust, with each chapter referenced by a variety of sources, enhancing the book’s reliability. Visual data elements are consistent and functional, aiding in the consolidation of main ideas.
The book is professionally published with a high-quality cover page. The white paper quality is good. The text is readable in terms of font type and font size. There is an acceptable use of white space. However, the absence of color in the visual diagrams and the lack of highlighting for headings could potentially diminish the overall engagement of the reading experience.
AI is an important subject, and many are keen to understand its impact on the project manager’s role, which is one of several project success factors. Given AI’s rapid development and our evolving comprehension, a book from 2021 might soon feel outdated. For instance, it makes no mention of ChatGPT. Additionally, many ideas in the book are now existing and implemented into AI tools. This raises the debate: were these concepts already emerging at the time of publication, or were their implementations, which occurred within 18 months post-publication, predictably imminent? Most of the ideas presented in the book have now been implemented with advanced AI tools, and more advanced, detailed books have been written since then. The book leaves five major questions unanswered, maintaining its relevance by laying a solid foundation for understanding. It offers valuable insights despite the advent of new knowledge in this swiftly changing field.
The author uses clear, concise language. The structure with equally sized chapters (15 in total) facilitates understanding, which is especially important where there are a number of new terms in AI that need to be understood in the context of project management.
To make the topics easier to understand, the author has created four main categories of AI related to project management:
- Project management process automation (auto-scheduling, automatically tracking progress and status of tasks, exception-based management).
- Project assistant-style chatbots (organizing meetings, progress management tracking, team reminders).
- Project intelligence through machine learning (supervised, unsupervised, reinforcement, and rules-based learning).
- The future state of the autonomous project manager (no real-life examples).
This categorization makes it easier for a project manager to relate the concepts to his/her work environment and then to determine what, where, and when they can be applied.
This book is probably one of the first where we see the link between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and project management. It provides insights into what is out there with regard to AI in project management. But due to progressive insight, there are now many more books and with more detailed information on this topic. The book was considered original at the time of publishing, trying to explore how AI can fit into the world of project management.
There are several use cases which do help in the understanding, but they lack specifics. It’s unclear whether they are hypothetical case studies or based on real-world examples.
Peter Taylor’s reputation as an author, particularly in the field of project management, is well-established and strong. In terms of the author’s reputation, Peter Taylor scores high. His extensive experience, proven impact in the field, and the reception of his work across multiple countries solidify his standing as a credible and influential figure in the project management community.
This book creates value in getting the reader to a good level of understanding within the scope of the book. Although there are now other newer books with more up-to-date information, this book still remains of value today, but this will rapidly decrease over time.
There is a lot of research put into the writing of this book. Each chapter ends with a list of notes citing the various, diverse sources used in the research and also listing additional explanatory comments to content written in the book, such as what is Siri, Cortana, and Alexa at the end of chapters.
Figures and tables are functional and follow a consistent style. Together, they help capture the main points of the author.