Well, let’s face it, AI is not new. It has been incorporated for many years in numerous applications we use on our mobile phones, for example, virtual sport coaching apps, health analyses, image creation and improvement, and many more.
But with the recent release of ChatGPT 3.5, for the first time, it became all very tangible for a very wide audience what AI is really capable of. It has put AI back on top of mind, so to speak.
While the future development and potential regulations of AI in the near future remain uncertain, one thing is clear, it will significantly alter our lives. So let’s look at the positive side of this evolution and use the momentum to explore what immediate benefits we, as PMs, can derive from it.
While talking to several project managers over the past few months about what they spend most of their precious time on, it usually comes down to the same activities:
- Building business cases
- Scheduling meetings
- Writing meeting minutes
- Create status reports
- Creating project plans and managing the unavoidable adjustments
- Monitoring project progress in comparison to the plan
Of course, the list is much more extensive when it comes to time-consuming work,… but it made me wonder where AI can unburden us with some of these activities today.
So far, after some experimenting, I have already managed to save quite some time creating business cases, writing some contractual clauses and creating meeting minutes. Here, ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot provided some good conceptual texts to start from. With the necessary adjustments, it led to clear and elaborated content.
Also Technical research has become much more efficient due to the ability to quickly obtain and summarise information on specific topics that would have previously required extensive time spent searching on Google and reading numerous of articles. Naturally, it remains essential to do some fact checking, but the time savings achieved is substantial.
Rather, an important new expertise now is writing good prompts, which involves understanding how AI interprets input to deliver desired output. It is an important skill for anyone working with AI, as it has a direct impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of AI in performing a wide range of tasks.
We can be certain to expect much more practical use cases as we move on. Artificial intelligence has become a digital companion and will be more and more integrated into the technology we use today. Moreover, AI will also support more and more complex tasks, such as risk analysis and budget forecasting, allowing us to make predictions and decisions faster.
I think that when we look back on the evolution of project management in two years’ time, we will see a remarkable transformation. This change should enable project managers to spend more time supporting project teams and the strategic project goals, rather than being burdened with checklists and reports as is often the case today.
Although the technology i still in its early beginning, the time savings it brings is enormous. It looks like we can expect major innovation changes at an unprecedented rate, so let’s keep a close eye on how this develops and exploit it to the maximum.
Got ideas on how AI can assist us today? Feel free to drop a comment below or send a direct message. We'd love to hear from you!
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