AI Empowers Project Managers by Assisting, Automating, and Augmenting Tasks
It's a symbiotic relationship rather than a threat.
Project managers must be guides and steer their companies through the tumultuous waters of AI.
They need to engage their companies in adopting AI — and when they do… they may need to use prompting.
Prompting is a list of instructions given to AI to make it generate the desired result.
As we saw in a previous issue, you'll need some prompting knowledge to get the most out of project management programs.
Luckily, you can learn this on YouTube. If you get good at prompting, you’ll keep refining your prompts, which is prompt engineering.
But, you don’t need to be an expert or know code — but to get some results from AI, you’ll need to get your hands dirty (or get your thirteen-year-old nerdy nephew to do it).
Introduction to the three “A”s
When AI is used in project management, we need to consider the complexity of the task and who does the work.
Machines can perform low-complexity tasks independently, but as they become more complex, humans (project managers) need to exercise more control to achieve fine-tuned results.
The chart above shows how the PMI breaks this out into the three “A”s—Automating, Assisting, and Augmenting.
Automating
Project managers (or project management programs) now use Gen AI to automate to increase speed and productivity. They commonly use programs like ChatGPT to create, summarize, and create standard documents generated on the project.
We automate work when we use a program such as Otter.ai to transcribe meeting minutes. After the program generates the meeting notes, the project manager will make some light edits, get needed feedback, and send them out. What took an hour to translate and write went from an hour to ten minutes.
Assisting
Project managers don’t have all the answers and can’t foresee every situation.
When AI is used, it can give us a different perspective and help us see avenues the project manager may have overlooked.
An example is using AI to generate a risk register or a RACI chart. When we create a cost-benefit analysis, there are always items we may need to help round out the scenario that AI can pinpoint with startling precision.
Project managers may need a little assistance, and AI is a low-cost resource that can help.
Augmenting
Think of AI as Iron Man’s suit of armor - it helps enhance Tony Stark and make him a superhero. It is nothing that dramatic for a project manager using AI.
AI helps us overcome tough challenges and augments our natural problem-solving skills. It can help with brainstorming, fleshing out a complex proposal, or figuring out a specific business case for the company.
Now that we know these three terms, let’s explore how they can help us become better project managers.
Automation prompts can save you valuable time
You are probably using a GenAI LLM (Large Language Model) such as ChatGPT or Claude to generate or condense text.
If you are prompting an LLM on project management projects, you are already automating your project management tasks.
When you are prompting for automation, these tips can improve your output:
Name your AI assistant: This prevents the LLM from getting confused.
Examples: Projectus, Projecticon or use any made-up name.
Give your AI a role: You should explain to the AI that you want it to play the expert PM in whatever industry and project type you are working on. This will help the AI give a more targeted response.
Example: You are a world-famous project management expert in the pharmaceutical industry for producing injectable drugs.
Provide concrete examples: With Claude and ChatGPT (4o) you can upload documents for the AI to reference for format and what data to include. This is known as few-shot prompting.
Example: Rate this book from 1 to 5. Here are some books I rate from 1 to 5 and their reviews.
GenAI can always summarize meeting minutes, but we should try to push the technology by giving it additional tasks such as:
Summarizing and sending status reports to stakeholders.
Report KPIs, activities on the project, and pending tasks
Assistance prompts can fill in your knowledge gaps
Project managers work on a wide range of projects and may have SMEs to help them out, but GenAI can help by playing the role of an SME that sits on your desktop.
Utilizing AI to do ad-hoc research and look for possible solutions to problems they do not have expertise in and provide concrete answers.
By prompting GenAI to review the project or documents, they can seal up any gaps in the project manager’s knowledge, or they can become partners in a brainstorming session.
Sometimes, we have no choice but to venture into the unknown when we start a project in a field we are unfamiliar with.
Heck, over a year ago, I wasn’t familiar with pharmaceuticals and had never managed a project of that type.
AI can help with quick knowledge grabs, concept summaries, and understanding an unfamiliar topic's groundwork.
It can also help you flesh out supporting documents that are used in many projects, such as:
Figuring out the business objectives.
Determining the business success criteria.
Compiling ranking suggestions and data for risk assessments/matrixes/RACI charts.
Looking at benefits and costs for a cost-benefit analysis.
Filling out a resource plan.
Completing a quality assurance plan.
Brainstorming a communications plan.
Coming up with financial requirements for the project.
If you are dealing with your first AI project, you can probe GenAI to figure out the following:
Which AI models could you use?
Data needed to complete the project objectives.
Possible resources and schedule requirements.
If you use the role prompting tip we used earlier, you can add these prompting tips after you receive an initial response from your AI helper:
Prompt the AI with this question near the end of the conversation: “If you were the project manager, are there any additional questions you would ask about this project?” This may yield a couple of unexpected viewpoints you may not have considered.
Ask the AI to be the “Devils Advocate”. An example would be:
I want you to act as a devil’s advocate to help improve my knowledge of the project.
I want to submit (whatever document you have - could be any of the documents listed above) and want constructive criticism.
You should find holes in logic, look out for invalid arguments, so you can call out any logical errors or inconsistencies in the (document).
Your job is to provide evidence-based feedback and point out any fallacies, faulty reasoning, false assumptions, or incorrect conclusions which may be overlooked.Keep honing in on the answers and drilling down on the GenAI until you get the right answers. You become the Spanish Inquisition of AI to get to the core of the problem or answers it’s furnishing.
You should get better prompt responses and fully exploit AI to really make it a valuable assistant.
Augmentation Prompts Help You Wrestle With Complex Challenges
Projects keep getting more and more complex. They can span multiple countries and time zones.
To stay on top of the project management game, you need to augment your skills and knowledge with GenAI.
Using AI to think through many layers of details and intertwining complexities clears up the confusion and leads to cohesive and outstanding solutions.
AI augmentation can help you with the following:
Exploring business cases and solutions.
Breaking down complex project data and work structures.
Arriving at alternate ways to solve hard problems.
When you are at the augmentation level, you are stacking all the prompting skills you used when you were at the automation and assisting stages. We keep layering them on with some additional prompts.
Most complex questions can be broken down into shorter and more concise questions. By reassembling the problem, you can gain the answers you were looking for all along.
GenAI like Perplexity can cite internet sources and give examples. Since project managers should build their projects on concrete ideas, AI can provide some solid reality to projects that may seem like fiction.
The best way to be sure of your assumptions is to ask AI what it thinks of the final conclusions. Then ask AI, “Are you sure?” It may rethink its final result or bring up something that wasn’t thought of before and needs addressing.
Closing thoughts
A project manager will use AI in their careers — it’s up to the individual just how good you get at using it.
AI automation, assisting, and augmentation are natural fits for project management since we deal with so many facets of a project. We’re only human, and AI helps us corral stray thoughts and gives structure to random ideas.
We need to learn how to use this technology and not fear it — it may take some extra effort, but to be cliché… the payoff is worth it.
The mastery of AI now will serve us well as our projects continue to evolve.
AI-Driven Tools for PMs
Clockwise - Clockwise is AI scheduling and calendar automation that coordinates the way you, your team, and your company prefer to work.
Rewind - An AI-powered assistant that learns from your behavior.
Mapify- Free AI-powered mind mapping tool.
AI News PMs Can Use
The AI Scientist: Towards Fully Automated Open-Ended Scientific Discovery
Gemini makes your mobile device a powerful AI assistant
ElevenLabs' Reader text-to-speech app goes global
Cool ChatGPT Prompt for PMs
Augmentation Prompt: Framing a Decision
Imagine you are an expert project manager in the [Industry], focusing on a [Project type] project. You have encountered a complex question, which is “[Complex question?].” Your task is to break this complex question down into smaller questions that collectively answer the complex question, providing a clear view of the component parts of the problem.
Consider:
• Range of outcomes implied by the complex question.
• Sources of resistance.
• Potential risks and mitigation plans.
• Key project milestones and their contributions to overall objectives.
Instructions:
• Consider and compare alternative solutions or tools in terms of benefits, costs and risks.
• Define criteria for the final decision, ensuring alignment with organizational values and priorities.
• Establish measures for decision success and feedback mechanisms for ongoing improvement.
Provide one-to-three-sentence answers to each question developed. Then ask me where I would like to go deeper.
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