In the coming years, the management of large telecom providers may be using just their smartphone app to check on their company’s seven strategic initiatives. They could know the status of every project in the pipeline and what percentage of those projects have been delivered. The key performance indicators and project charters would be at their disposal in moments, as would be the insights on every team member’s morale level and overall buy-in of essential stakeholders.

Many AI-based self-adjustments have started to occur based on standards selected by the project manager and the team. Most businesses in the tech industry are well aware that AI capabilities are based on heaps of data, detection of patterns in that data, and making trend predictions. We anticipate that Ai/ml development is on the threshold of becoming an emerging trend in project management, undoubtedly, because of its unique ability to monitor and forecast patterns and scenarios much more precisely and effortlessly.

Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to sophisticated IT endeavors. Ai/ml development companies have already begun to make inroad solutions to more traditional problems that either augment or replace work traditionally performed by humans, like project managers.

Ai is being used to perform administrative tasks such as automating meeting preparations, such as agenda drafting, room booking, emailing invitations, and meeting minuting or maintaining registers and logs. In addition, it is likely to gradually improve its ability to handle even more complex project management tasks.

What does this mean? What do project managers need to be wary of to stay on updated with this technology, which will potentially impact the profession’s future?

5 Aspects of Project Management that will be Affected

These coming technological developments must be seen as an opportunity like none before. If you run an organization or you’re a project leader, you must start to be most prepared for this moment of disruption to reap the most rewards. Almost every part of project management will be affected, from planning to processes to people. Let’s have a look at six key aspects.

1. Ai-Powered Tools Will Take Over Administrative Tasks 

AI-powered tools can automate things such as meeting planning, daily updates, reminders, and other administrative tasks. This allows team members and project managers to concentrate on higher-level, more complex activities, and planning.

According to KPMG’s “AI Transforming the Enterprise,” businesses that have invested in AI have seen about a 15% increase in their productivity. In addition, according to PMI’s “[email protected]” report, project managers on the cutting edge of AI and other technology-related pieces say that using AI has reduced the time they put into activities such as managing documentation, monitoring progress, and activity and resource planning.

2. Better Selection and Prioritization

Selection and prioritization involve a specific type of prediction. When the correct data is available, ML can detect patterns that can’t be determined by other manual means and can exceed human accuracy when it comes to making predictions. ML-driven prioritization and selection will soon result in the following:

• Faster identification of projects that are for launch and have the correct fundamentals in place.
• Faster selection of projects that have higher chances of delivering the highest benefits.
• A better balance in the project portfolio and overview of risk in the organization.
• Removal of human biases in the decision-making process.

3. Advanced Testing Systems and Software

Testing is another critical task in most projects; project managers have to test early and often. Unfortunately, it’s become rare today to find a project without multiple types of software and systems that must be tested before a project goes live. Soon, advanced testing systems that are now only feasible for just a few megaprojects will eventually become widely available.

For example, The Elizabeth line is part of the Crossrail project in the United Kingdom. It is a complex railway with new tracks, new stations, new infrastructure, and new trains; it was, therefore, important that every aspect of the project went through a thorough testing and commissioning process to ensure reliability. It required a never-before-used combination of hardware and software. This automated off-site testing facility proved invaluable in increasing systems’ cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and resilience. The project manager and systems engineer define it as an extensive system automation library that has been written, which enables complex set-ups to be achieved, health checks could be accurately performed, endurance testing could be done over extended periods, and the execution of tests of repetitive nature multiple audits could be run at the facility all day, free from the risk of operator bias. 

Advanced and automated testing solutions for software projects will soon allow self-correcting processes and early detection of defects. This will significantly reduce time spent on inconvenient testing activities, deliver easy-to-use and bug-free solutions, reduce the number of reworks, and ultimately.

4. A New Role for The Project Manager

Project managers are indeed not set to go away, but they will undoubtedly be required to embrace these changes and use the new technologies. We currently expect cross-functional project teams as a group of individuals from different fields of work, but we may soon have to think of them as a group of robots and virtual assistants. There will undoubtedly be a shift away from an administrative position in the duties of project leaders.

5. Support for The Project Management Office

Data analytics and automation startups have come around to help organizations streamline and optimize the project management office (PMO) role. The most famous example is President Emmanuel Macron using this latest technology to maintain up-to-date information about every French public project. These new tools will radically transform the way PMOs run by offering :

• Better monitoring of project progress.
• The capability to anticipate potential problems and solve some simple ones automatically.
• Automated creation and distribution of reports and gathering of feedback.
• Greater sophistication in selecting the best project management approaches for each project.
• Compliance monitoring for processes and policies.
• Automation, using virtual assistants, of support functions such as risk assessment, stakeholder analysis, and status updates.

Conclusion

The impact of AI development on project management has been significant in recent years. AI has the potential to improve project planning and execution by analyzing data, identifying patterns, and predicting outcomes. Project managers can use AI tools to automate repetitive tasks, make data-driven decisions, and optimize resource allocation. AI can also assist with risk management by identifying potential risks and suggesting mitigation strategies. While AI has the potential to improve project management, it is essential to note that it is not a replacement for human decision-making and management. Project managers must balance the benefits of AI with the need for human judgment and intuition to achieve successful project outcomes. Overall, the integration of AI into project management is a promising trend that has the power to change the industry in the years to come.

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