Today, we stand at the threshold of a transformative revolution, and many of us feel that artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing the way we think and work. For this reason, we need to fundamentally rethink the way we manage projects.
Projects are everywhere—in both private and professional contexts across all industries and professions: whether it’s planning a wedding, organizing the European Championship, or expanding a subway line. Construction projects, IT projects, research projects—they’re all projects in some form.
What do we mean by project management?For us, project management in this context means the strategic orchestration of technology, people, and processes to drive digital transformation and ultimately ensure a sustainable future for companies.
Today, project management is central to how companies develop: optimizing processes, implementing technologies, and/or developing organizations and personnel. To ensure a company’s success, it’s essential to understand how projects are changing and to explore how AI can be a driver of innovation, efficiency, and strategic excellence.
Before we dive deeper, this blog post focuses exclusively on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). This emphasis doesn’t reduce the diversity of the AI world but rather highlights the groundbreaking potential GenAI holds for companies and especially for project management.
First, a brief introduction to GenAI within the context of AI technologies:
“Understanding AI”: This term refers to artificial intelligence that specializes in understanding and interpreting human language, emotions, images, and other data. This includes technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), image recognition, and emotion recognition. The goal is to replicate and respond to human communication and perception.
“Analytical AI”: This type of AI focuses on analyzing data sets, identifying patterns, and making predictions based on these analyses. Technologies in this area include machine learning and deep learning, which aim to learn from data and make well-informed decisions or predictions based on that learning.
“Generative AI”: The current hot topic, this AI model goes beyond replicating trained data sets and can create new, unique content. This includes generating text, graphics, music, voice outputs, and even code. Prominent examples include transformer models like ChatGPT, which can create new, original content based on their training.
Elevate your gameAlthough no one can fully grasp it today, we want to attempt to transparently share what we already know and make the developments we expect available for discussion.
This study is not only intended to illuminate the path to the future but also to encourage you—the project managers, teams, and organizations—to recognize the potential and be inspired to take the lead in this opportunity-rich terrain.
Fortunately, most organizations have left behind the days when managers were given budgets to meet stakeholder expectations, pivoted worthless insights from long Excel spreadsheets, and pinned utopian timelines onto inconvenient Gantt charts only to deliver them through pseudo-accurate resource and capacity planning. Nobody’s got time (and money) for this bullsh*t.
This is where the transformative power of AI comes in, laying the foundation for a new era of management—and therefore, project management.
AI as a catalyst: More complexity in less timeThe possibilities of this technological advancement can put pressure on project managers to deliver more demanding tasks in less time. On the other hand, it frees them from dull administrative activities, allowing for an unprecedented level of efficiency, innovation, and strategic thinking.
The media has long claimed that only by automating repetitive, time-consuming routine tasks would we be able to establish more time for conceptual work and efficiency. With GenAI, this expectation is fundamentally changed, and the perception of automation is expanded. According to PPM Express 2023, AI can already save 47% of a project manager's time on data analysis. In the future, this percentage will only grow. More importantly, however, the support of this technology is unbeatable when it comes to creative, innovative, and strategic work. It’s no longer just about saving time but about revolutionizing the quality and scope of our work. GenAI acts as a collaborative partner, redefining the boundaries of what is possible in project work.
Limits of the presentWhen we examine today’s limitations and challenges in project management, the "need to act" quickly becomes apparent. Methods once considered the backbone of effective project control are often not flexible enough to keep up with the constantly changing dynamics. Also, if we’re being honest, many aspects of project work have become incredibly frustrating:
Rigidity: Projects that once followed linear, predictable paths have today evolved into complex networks that require flexibility and adaptability. Even in companies that work in their version of “agility,” we often encounter rigid reporting structures, entrenched processes, and timelines promised to boards or the stock market. This makes it difficult to effectively respond to unforeseen changes and challenges.
Misunderstandings: Digitalization, globalization, and the COVID-19 pandemic have rewritten the rules of collaboration: working across continents, fully remote, or in hybrid settings has become the new norm. Cool. However, this is still partly unregulated and uncontrolled because the changes were not optimally supported, and project managers often lack the skills to communicate effectively in foreign languages, build trust, and bridge cultural differences.
Data silos: Project information is often distributed across different systems and formats, making it difficult to get a holistic view of the project. This fragmentation and isolation prevent efficient data analysis and usage, impairing decision-making. Cleaning this up used to mean years of “data harmonization projects,” leading to a lot of wasted money and frustration among all involved.
Information deficits: The ability to understand and control project progress and risks in real-time is almost impossible with traditional project management methods. Instead, they often offer a delayed view of the project status, resulting in late responses and missed opportunities.
Productivity losses: The sometimes necessary manual routine tasks and high administrative burden associated with some traditional project management methods can significantly reduce efficiency, productivity, and, most importantly, project enjoyment. We see many project managers and teams feeling stressed, "constantly busy," and even burnt out. Learning how to collaborate with AI still has a long way to go, as initial studies on “the impact of AI on team functioning” show that team performance can even decline when AI joins the team. More on “AI meets organizational development” will follow soon—follow us on LinkedIn so you don’t miss the publication!
These challenges highlight the need for change. Fortunately, generative AI in this context opens up new horizons for managing the complexity of modern projects and can be a key enabler of more joy and less stress in project management.
GenAI as a game-changer: new game, new rulesThe most remarkable thing about this innovative technology is not only the speed at which it works but also the general availability of AI, enabling benefits on a large scale. ChatGPT itself currently estimates the extent to which GenAI could take over the following tasks (considering the current state of technology and anticipated short-term progress) as follows:
Resource & Risk Management:
Resource and procurement management: 4AI can optimize resource allocation, automate procurement processes, and predict demand.
Financial management and budgeting: 4AI can manage budgets, predict costs, and optimize spending with high accuracy.
Risk management and mitigation: 3AI can predict risks and suggest mitigation measures, but human judgment remains essential to understand and address nuances.
Enforcement of quality standards: 3While AI can monitor quality standards and flag deviations, human judgment is often required for complex decisions.
Change management: 2AI can suggest changes based on data trends, but human managers are required to handle the nuances of impacts on stakeholders and strategic changes.
Leadership & Communication:
Team leadership and development: 1AI can support with training tools and performance monitoring, but the human element of leadership is irreplaceable.
Communication management: 3AI can automate routine communications and flag issues requiring attention, but personal interactions remain mostly a human domain.
Customer and stakeholder engagement: 2AI can analyze sentiments, manage appointments, and draft updates, but relationship and trust-building are inherently human.
Project completion and post-project evaluation: 3AI can assist in the project completion process by automating documentation, analyzing project data for evaluation, and extracting lessons learned.
To be as concrete as possible, here are the first challenges and solutions that ChatGPT alone can already address more effectively than conventional methods. ChatGPT-4 and 4o, which can currently be affordably provided to any project member, are changing the rules of the game. ChatGPT can already take on time-consuming tasks and generate new content—be it ideas, perspectives, or solutions for complex challenges.
As more systems gradually come into play—many of which are just beginning to show their full potential—project managers should already be able to handle them and not just start learning about them.
Try me!Three examples of concrete use cases you can try out right now.
Of course, please consider applicable data protection regulations. Are you not yet in a protected GPT environment where company data may be uploaded? Contact us. 😉
Challenge: According to the Standish Group, approximately $48 billion is invested globally in projects each year, with only 35% considered successful. A waste of resources. Were many of these projects perhaps set up in an unstructured or overly hasty manner (keyword: duplicate work, cannibalization of objectives)?
Solution: With the proper data preparation and prompting, ChatGPT can already provide useful insights into which projects should be prioritized. This removes human bias and highlights success potential and an optimally aligned project and risk portfolio.
Challenge: Training in agile methods and Scrum certification takes time and delays the efficient start of a productive project team that “speaks the same language.”
Solution: With a GPT-4 license, you can already create customized GPTs.
