Summary of the Book Review – AI and the Project Manager

The book AI and the Project Manager—How the Rise of Artificial Intelligence Will Change Your World, by Peter Taylor, is probably one of the first to show the link between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and project management. It gives insights into what is out there regarding AI in project management. Gartner states that by 2030, 80% of the work of today’s project managers will be eliminated as AI takes on functions such as data collection, tracking, reporting, analytics, and predictive analysis.

AI Definitions

The book starts with some definitions:

• AI is the design and construction of intelligent agents that receive percepts from the environment and take actions that affect that environment.
• Artificial narrow intelligence (ANI) or “Weak” AI is AI that exists today (e.g., playing chess, analyzing data to produce reports, Siri, Google Assistant, etc.).
• Artificial general intelligence (AGI) or “Strong” AI refers to machines that exhibit human or adaptable intelligence. As such, there are no real-world examples of “Strong” AI.
• In addition, you will find definitions of machine learning, applied intelligence, deep learning, responsible AI, predictive analysis, computer vision, natural language processing, intelligent automation, and dark data.

AI Categories

The author distinguishes 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)

Data

Having the data is key in AI. Unfortunately, projects are complex to model, but typically, they have poor historical data and factors that are hard to understand (e.g., behavioral aspects of various actors). Any historical data is heavily biased, subjective, and unreliable, as it often does not reflect real delivery details or accurate completion rates.

Some AI Use Cases

In the book, there are many cases of AI use. To mention a few:

• The ultimate goal of a supplier of AI-driven PM software with machine learning should be to automate data insights on project delivery, help project teams spot problems early, and identify where best to focus project management efforts to continually reduce uncertainty and increase the probability of delivering project outcomes.
• Another supplier wanted to use technology and data to understand what made projects succeed or fail and prioritize leveraging the knowledge of the people behind them (people data) rather than simply the traditional project data (when the task is complete) most people used. Or can machine learning support the ability to “match” people on the projects they would be most passionate about working on?

Projects Are About People

Project managers, in the “new AI normal” world, are still about people and will:

• use all of those AI insights and predictable capability,
• have time to get to grips with the complexities of people and teams, and
• build and lead incredible project teams into a single purpose-driven powerhouse.

The book ends with some thoughts on the future project manager (can anyone do project management, will certification be valueless, will we abandon methodology, are professional bodies irrelevant, and will our skills be devalued) and AI in project management survey response details.

Conclusion

This book shows that AI is not the silver bullet to solve all our project related problems. The book gives many AI examples from ideas to realized AI solutions. For those who aren’t familiar yet with AI and project management you get some first insights, definitions, and AI use cases. It will help to start a discussion where you can benefit from AI; project managers can definitely benefit from AI and use their scarce time to focus on people! But I am not sure yet if, in 2030, 80% of the work of today’s project managers will be eliminated.

Please visit the book review page for a detailed review of the book using AIPMO’s 10-point scale.