Chief AI Officers key to get most from technology in project management
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence is driving an evolution in project management. Gero Renker, director at portfolio, project and programme consultancy Program Framework, explains the opportunities and challenges ahead.
In 2019, Gartner estimated that by 2030, AI will have eliminated 80% of project management tasks. Since this prediction was made there have already been significant advancements that are enhancing daily work. So how specifically will project managers benefit, and what should organisations do to ready themselves and embrace these new technologies?
Project managers, like any digital knowledge worker, benefit from the AI-powered productivity features that are integrated into their everyday tools. As AI evolves, such features will increasingly make project management more efficient overall. This includes intelligent document management to automatically categorise and organise documents, as well as summarising and extracting key insights from lengthy documents. Automated calendar management will make it much easier to schedule meetings, and AI assistants will transcribe conversations into meeting minutes, manage meeting agendas and actions.
Smart Email Management (SEM) can help prioritise important messages, automate responses to routine inquiries and respond to critical communications in a timely way. For a project team, these personal productivity gains will apply to each team member, and as a result will make project delivery more efficient.
Already, cutting-edge advancements in predictive and generative AI are opening up opportunities far beyond personal productivity. AI’s predictive powers will open the door to progressive, data-driven project prioritisation methods, creating portfolios with greater business value and a higher chance of successful delivery. AI can generate complex project schedules based on descriptive information about the project. It can suggest likely project risks and help to assess and manage them, as well as assisting with balancing and managing resources. Its power of predictive analytics can be based on broad data sets, with the opportunity of combining external data and knowledge with internal project data, collected over time. Trend analytics across multiple projects and industries in particular will offer more accurate predictions and identify potential risks or opportunities that might not be evident from internal data alone.
However, for a lot of businesses, this level of innovation may seem a long way off. Project portfolio management is an area that is notorious for being poorly supported by technology, often relying on disconnected spreadsheets, project plans and PowerPoint decks. With AI relying on structured and managed data, any business that is looking to transform projects with AI should be addressing this urgently by investing in enterprise project portfolio management systems.
Setting out the vision
The vision for AI in project management is likely to be part of a comprehensive AI strategy that defines areas where it can create value across the business. Larger organisations may consider implementing a formal role to define and implement this strategy, such as a Chief AI Officer (CAIO). This position is designed to specifically examine how the business can engage and benefit from AI and determine how tools can be implemented in manageable steps.
Considering that AI will be new to many boards, clouded in uncertainty and possibly perceived as threatening, the CAIO can bring significant value by helping to educate senior leadership about AI. The role will enable leaders to own the definition of AI strategies and the long-term vision for its use, as well as ensuring applications of AI align with overall business objectives and ethics.
A CAIO can also help to build up the organisational AI skill base by attracting suitable talent and developing training programmes to upskill existing employees. Building a skilled resource pool and managing significant change as a result of AI innovation will require major investment. Without a dedicated CAIO, the organisation may struggle to clearly understand the business case for this investment and subsequently fail to harness the AI opportunity.
Artificial intelligence is clearly evolving at speed and organisations across all industries are recognising the potential of AI technologies to streamline operations, improve decision-making, and enhance customer experiences. Embracing AI for project portfolio management in particular promises to give us the tools to improve on the high project failure rates typically lamented by industry analysts. However, it's crucial to acknowledge that AI tools are not a replacement for human project managers. Rather they act as valuable assistants, augmenting their capabilities to make informed decisions and execute projects more efficiently. Human oversight, creativity, and critical thinking will remain essential elements in successful project management.
Gero Renker is a co-founder and director of Program Framework. Program Framework is a Gold Competency Microsoft Partner delivering project, programme and portfolio management solutions using Microsoft Cloud.