Managing a project well takes more than just making a great plan in advance and sticking to it. Interdependencies within a project and external changes make outcomes unpredictable. Estimates and many forecasts are at best intuition; at worst, guesses and handwaving. By 2030, 80% of the work of today’s project management (PM) discipline will be eliminated as artificial intelligence (AI) takes on traditional PM functions such as data collection, tracking and reporting, according to a new report by Gartner, Inc. “AI is going to revolutionize how program and portfolio management leaders leverage technology to support their business goals,” says Gartner’s VP.
Providers in today’s project software market, such as Microsoft Project, Primavera, and Trello, are behind in enabling a fully digital project management. The market will focus first on providing incremental user experience benefits to individual PM professionals, and later will help them to become better planners and managers. Gartner thinks that by 2023, technology providers focused on AI, virtual reality (VR) and digital platforms will disrupt the PM market. Generally, the goal is to avoid getting to the end of a project and being surprised.
Data collection, analysis and reporting are a large proportion of the PM discipline. AI will improve the outcomes of these tasks, including the ability to analyze data faster than humans and using those results to improve overall performance. “Using conversational AI and chatbots, PM leaders can begin to use their voices to query a PM software system and issue commands, rather than using their keyboard and mouse,” says the Gardner VP. “As AI begins to take root in the PM software market, those managers that choose to embrace the technology will see a reduction in the occurrence of unforeseen project issues and risks associated with human error.”
Classroom discussion questions:
- Will project managers become obsolete?
- How will AI software change the field of PM?