How AI in Project Management is Transforming the Industry
Gone are the days when Artificial Intelligence was primarily associated with robotics. As of now, AI has already started making its way into the business world, automating and taking over various tasks traditionally handled by humans – such as project management. Believe it or not, AI is here to stay and will reshape the project management industry in the future.
In fact, according to the ‘Pulse of the Profession’ research, 81% of respondents claim their organization is already being impacted by AI technologies, while 37% say adopting AI technologies is a high priority for their organization, sparking a shift in project management approaches.
What do project managers need to know to embrace AI’s power, and how will it transform the industry? Let’s take a deep dive and find out!
What is AI?
AI is short for Artificial Intelligence.
A computer science focus on building intelligent machines that can perform all tasks requiring human intelligence.
It is an interdisciplinary field with many approaches, but deep learning and machine learning have changed the development of AI.
These developments have already impacted many industries and provided practical solutions that do human tasks effectively. AI enables machines to model and improve human intelligence capabilities.
AI is quickly developing and entering multiple industries with solutions like intelligent voice assistants and self-driving vehicles. But the most important thing is that AI solutions are becoming scalable and available to all kinds of businesses and can be found without various products. That’s how these technologies found their way into project management solutions.
How AI Works
AI uses large amounts of data combined with intelligent algorithms and ample processing power. That allows the software to learn quickly by recognizing patterns in data. Artificial intelligence involves many different technologies, methods, and theories.
That’s why there are several subfields in AI:
NLP (Natural Language Processing): Natural Language Processing is a technology that allows computers to understand, analyze, and create human language or speech. For example, AI project management systems can finish sentences, give suggestions, or translate actions into reports and documents.
Computer vision: This combination of deep learning and pattern recognition is used for recognizing what is in videos or images. Machines that can analyze, understand, and process images can capture videos or images in real-time and understand what’s happening in them.
Deep learning AI: Deep Learning uses a sizeable neural network combined with layers of processors and uses training techniques and powerful computing capabilities to find and learn complex patterns within large volumes of data. It’s commonly used for the most common form of recognition – speech and image recognition.
Neural network AI: This type of ML technology is made of interconnected units that process information by responding to inputs and relaying information between the connected units. This process involves multiple back and forth between units of data to find the necessary connections and find meaning within data.
ML (Machine Learning): This is one of the most popular AI technologies and is an automated analytical model-building process. ML uses physics, operations research, statistics, and neural networks to find insights within data without having an ultimate goal. In other words, it’s a power algorithm designed to learn from data and reach its own conclusions or best courses of action based on specific standards.
What is AI in Project Management?
Unlike traditional project management, AI project management implies running and managing projects in a way that human input is minimized, as certain processes and administrative tasks are automated and optimized through AI technologies. These could be anything from budgeting, scheduling, and resource allocation to performance tracking and offering recommendations.
The role of AI in the field of project management
One of the major roles AI plays in the field of project management is the ability of AI-powered tools to take over a significant portion of administrative tasks for project managers, such as the business planning process, reminders, daily updates, etc. That enables project managers to focus on higher-level, complex tasks and activities.
How AI is transforming project management
It has always been a business challenge for project managers to deliver projects on time and on budget and keep people on task, especially when project managers have to manage multiple projects simultaneously. Artificial Intelligence is making project management easier and more efficient while ensuring a smoother process.
Current trends of AI in project management
AI has been steadily spreading across the project management tool market, and we will likely see AI adoption on a larger scale in the foreseeable future. Being influenced by technological innovations, AI will evolve from simple task automation into predictive analytics and predictive decision management that eliminates human error and bias.
How Does AI in Project Management Work?
AI-based systems can assist project managers with a bunch of tasks and functions. For instance, AI tools can effectively handle project planning, scheduling, reminders, updates, follow-ups, and other administrative tasks. AI can also help project managers compose the project team and improve resource allocation.
That is done by matching the right skills, assigning roles and responsibilities to individual team members, and distributing tasks in the most optimal way. It ensures the workload is fairly distributed across the team - and the project is delivered on time.
Benefits of AI in Project Management
As humans and Artificial Intelligence collaborate more closely in project management (as weird as it sounds!), that can result in massive benefits and help project managers improve project outcomes while optimizing resources and reducing costs. Let’s now walk through the benefits in a bit more detail.
AI allows project managers to focus more on strategic tasks
Based on PMI’s ‘AI@Work’ report, project leaders report that AI technology is decreasing the time spent on activities like monitoring progress, managing documentation, and activity and resource planning.
By automating low-value-add, redundant tasks and administrative functions, especially when it comes to complex projects, AI saves project managers lots of time. That enables them to focus more on strategic activities like prioritization, coaching, leadership, and conflict management.
AI ensures project delivery is on time and on budget
Thanks to machine learning, AI can analyze vast amounts of data, including historical data from previous projects, spot patterns, and make estimates and predictions for future projects. That means AI-powered systems can predict project completion times and how much a project will cost – with a much higher degree of accuracy than it would have been done by humans alone.
AI enables a more efficient risk management
AI-powered tools are also helpful in determining potential risk probabilities and their impacts. That makes it possible to identify and mitigate project risks before they become threats to the project’s success (or even before a project manager realizes something could go wrong). It greatly supports the decision-making process allowing for better project quality delivery.
Potential Concerns and Drawbacks of Using AI in Project Management
Despite the variety of benefits Artificial Intelligence brings to project management, one of the biggest concerns about using AI in PM is whether it will completely replace project management professionals in the future. (Now that’s a million-dollar question!) Especially given the fact that according to Gartner’s research, by 2030, 80% of the work of today’s project management discipline will be eliminated as AI takes on traditional PM functions like data collection, tracking, and reporting.
Fortunately, project management isn’t only about managing administrative functions, which can now be automated and optimized using AI. There’s also a human aspect of project management – leading the team and motivating people.
It’s just as, if not more, impactful than the administrative elements and isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, PMI’s report on project management job growth claims that through 2027, the project management-oriented labor force in seven project-oriented sectors is expected to grow by 33%, which equals nearly 22 million new jobs.
Types of AI Used in Project Management
AI Project Management for Team Management
You can use AI-driven project management tools for more efficient team management by getting insights from team analytics and creating personalized learning and development plans for team members. Virtual Assistants can also improve team management by facilitating better communication and collaboration within the team.
AI Project Management for Effective Planning
AI-based tools can assist project managers at each phase in setting up a project plan, from advanced scheduling and budgeting to capacity planning and critical resource management. It also allows project managers to effectively process complex data through real-time and historical analytics to uncover patterns that may affect project delivery.
An effective project management solution can check on resource overloading and use the “excess resources” to improve client satisfaction or move assets to another project.
AI Project Management for Risk Management
Using predictive analytics and predictive modeling at different project stages, AI can facilitate project risk management. Using automated analysis of risk factors and thresholds, AI can help identify risks, alert teams of potential delays, and even offer suggestions on how to bring the project back on track.
AI Project Management for Task Management
AI-powered project management tools can help project managers automate and optimize task management by allocating tasks to the most appropriate team members based on their skill sets and availability. That enables efficient resource and task allocation. Automated task tracking also ensures that tasks are completed on time.
AI Project Management for Project Monitoring
AI project management systems allow for ongoing project timeline tracking with automated project tracking tools, automated issue tracking, and workload management. That helps ensure the project is running smoothly and efficiently.
AI Project Management for Status Updating
Regular status updates are essential for keeping track of the progress and understanding the health of a project. However, AI-driven tools can automate status monitoring and reporting and create automated status alerts - making things easier for both PMs and their team members.
Novel Applications of AI in Project Management
By leveraging predictive data analysis, sophisticated AI algorithms can generate automated predictions to support the decision-making process in project management. That allows project managers to improve the project success rate significantly.
AI Project Management Automation
AI eliminates all the monotonous, tedious, and repetitive tasks in project management. Project managers must deal with a lot of technical work they can automate. Still, these tasks are critical and must be done to get the desired results.
AI automates administrative tasks like daily updates, reminders, meeting planning, scheduling, etc. That lets project managers focus on more important and complex activities in project management.
AI-powered Predictive Analytics in Project Management
AI is a powerful technology that assesses all relevant information and historical data to predict future outcomes. Artificial intelligence is getting more and more relevant data through which it can provide accurate insights and predictions while eliminating human bias.
Not only that AI can crunch down more data without missing any critical pieces, but it can also provide instantly actionable insights. We are already seeing AI project management solutions that are effective at risk and cost management due to their ability to predict outcomes accurately.
These capabilities can help you understand future resource requirement numbers, volume increases, costs, or logistical complications, and you can prepare on time to deal with those issues. With this information, a project manager can easily create a resource schedule and stick to it for a long time while monitoring the current KPIs.
Intelligent Assistance AI in Project Management
Project managers must ask themselves difficult questions regularly to make the best possible decisions. Questions like: what is the risk for this project? Which project requires the most resources? What project is the top priority?
All of these questions need to be answered. AI can help you answer these questions easily without having to go through all documents manually and give you valuable suggestions on overcoming issues.
With natural language processing capabilities, many AI solutions can understand your input and make decisions based on the numbers or words you type. Artificial intelligence AI solutions don’t yet have the complete cognitive abilities of humans, but they can make intelligent conclusions and offer valuable advice project managers need.
Strategic Partnership AI
Artificial intelligence projects have a broader reach. In other words, your AI solution isn’t isolated and constantly feeds off other systems. If you’re working on data analytics, you will be using systems or connecting new systems together. You might have to get data from a single platform and use it within your system to get desired results.
In these scenarios, you will have to work with other teams and see how they’ve used AI and what insights they have revealed. This partnership and collaboration can help both sides, even with different corporate goals.
AI in Human Resources Project Management
Project management is also about human resources. Many tools have HR capabilities and features because some projects are closely connected to the human element. It’s simply a typical business requirement for various organizations.
These tools help recruit new employees, find the right talent, onboard people, train, and can track every employee recognition KPI effectively. The essential advantage is that AI lets you understand your expectations from resource assets even though it’s human and calculate all the human inputs effectively.
You can create an effective employee recognition program that lets you see what everyone’s been up to in the previous period and assess employee performance. AI can also recognize employees needing further engagement, automate engagement with employee recognition incentives, and remind managers of essential tasks.
AI Chatbots in Project management
Task management is one of the most tedious project management responsibilities. The person in charge must monitor and delegate various activities and create schedules while considering all the potential obstacles and dealing with them.
New AI project management solutions offer intelligent AI chatbot assistants to automate notifying managers about potential obstacles, giving status updates, and assigning tasks. Many companies have tackled inefficient resource management with these solutions while organizing work more effectively.
Most teams that work with Agile methods can use chatbots for quick assistance in every task section, to remind everyone which tasks have been completed, and ask team members what their daily tasks are.
Challenges and Barriers to Implementing AI in Project Management
Now that you (hopefully) have a better understanding of how much value AI brings to project management, let’s look at the flipside of it. Even though AI implementation in project management is on the rise, there are still some challenges and fundamental barriers to AI adoption in PM that prevent companies from fully embarking on the AI transformation path.
Here are some of the most critical ones:
Limited Knowledge of AI Technology
According to the ‘Artificial Intelligence impact in Project Management’ report by IPMA in association with PWC, over 70% of respondents indicated the limited understanding of AI technologies as the main barrier to adopting AI tools in project management. This number is closely followed by 62% of those who have difficulties in deciding the best AI applications due to limited experience.
Data Privacy, Ethics, and Security Concerns
Data privacy, digital ethics, and security risks associated with AI implementation have been cited as the third most frequent barrier by 60% of PM-related experts. Besides, depending on where your business operates and your business strategy, there may also be certain legal and regulatory challenges in AI deployment, which many companies are concerned about.
Cost of AI Technology and Additional Expenses
The same report revealed that financial resource shortage is considered a barrier to AI adoption by 49% of PM-related professionals. That is mainly because AI integration and implementation require hiring expensive IT specialists, not to mention additional costs for system maintenance, updates, and training expenses.
Implications of Using AI in Project Management
Artificial intelligence improves project management decision-making
More and more organizations are implementing AI solutions in project management for gathering data, managing data, and using this data for improved decision-making. The results are that AI solutions have improved data integrity within systems and decision-making.
All organizations rely on data and decisions to improve their business strategy. Having robust data within your system makes it easier to make valuable conclusions. At the same time, AI also gives insights from data humans can’t get that quickly and rely on them to improve their decisions, avoid improper resource allocation, and streamline portfolio management.
AI has an immediate impact on project management
80% of people involved in AI project management report that their organizations see the immediate impact of these solutions. At the same time, project managers say they expect that the use of AI will drastically expand their project portfolio management capabilities.
In other words, companies and professionals can take on more projects when using AI and manage them effectively without having to hire more people.
AI will completely remove administrative tasks
As mentioned earlier, AI can effectively take over all administrative tasks. With the growth of these functions and the improvement of AI-powered tools, we can expect AI to handle all administrative tasks in the future. That will let project managers deal with more essential tasks and boost their productivity. A project manager can use their skill set on more critical tasks that bring more value to the organization.
Conclusion
AI technologies are already fundamentally changing the business landscape and are having a tremendous impact on the project management industry. Project management software tools backed by Artificial Intelligence can change how projects are planned, managed, and executed through process automation, machine learning models, and predictive analytics.
That ultimately enhances the project manager’s productivity, ensures a smoother and more efficient project management process, and improves project quality and accuracy while also reducing project management costs.
FAQ
How can Ayanza be helpful?
With professional project management software like Ayanza, managing your projects, setting project goals, and handling tasks becomes much easier and more efficient. Besides, Ayanza’s embedded AI algorithm can also be of additional assistance with AI-generated content. You can save a bunch of time, brain power, and effort by letting AI answer your questions, generate relevant content and deliver the knowledge your team needs for your project’s success.
How is AI used in project management?
AI is being used to help project managers with project planning, scheduling, time management, budgeting, task management and prioritization, assigning resources, and risk management. On top of that, AI-powered tools can automate repetitive tasks and administrative functions, which saves project managers a great deal of time and allows them to focus more on strategic activities.
Can AI replace project managers?
Despite the rapid rise and penetration of AI into the project management field, AI tools aren’t likely to replace project managers anytime soon. There are several barriers and challenges AI adoption involves, and there’s also the fact that AI cannot replace the human element of project management. That means project management skills will remain essential.
How can AI improve project management?
Besides automation capabilities that boost the productivity and efficiency of project managers, AI can significantly improve project scheduling, resource allocation, team collaboration, risk prediction, and mitigation based on predictive analytics and historical data. That allows projects to be delivered on time, with fewer risks, and at lower costs.