Artificial intelligence (AI) is used throughout our society. So far, we have blogs on AI in Healthcare, AI in Business, The Development of AI and AI Managers to name a few. This time we are looking at AI in project management.

In a study by the Association of Project Managers (APM), they identified the following key findings about AI in project management, finding that it:

• Enhances decision-making in projects
• Supports problem-solving functions
• Most likely to be used during project planning
• Improves efficiency when analysing large volumes of data in projects
• Has the potential to increase project success and mitigate project failure
• There is a positive correlation between the level of project complexity and the perceived usefulness of AI

But what specific ways can AI be used in project management? With Gartner predicting that 80% of project management tasks will be eliminated by AI by 2030, there are many areas of project management that are being transformed by AI.

Some ways AI can be used in project management include:

• Project organisation and administrative tasks
• Pattern recognition and predictive analytics
• Project scoping
• Automated testing

Project Organisation and Administrative Tasks

There are many software tools that project managers currently use for their work. For example, they may use Jira to manage their project team’s work. AI can be used to improve the usefulness of these tools by predicting tasks and automating work.

AI can be used to reduce project management time spent on repetitive administrative tasks. Automated reporting, gathering feedback and scheduling are all tasks that can be completed by AI. AI digital assistants (also called virtual assistants) work to support project managers and can even perform more complex tasks such as risk assessments and stakeholder analysis. By analysing the work of a project manager, AI can schedule the project manager’s work. The AI will learn how and when the project manager works and the tasks that they perform to streamline their schedule.

Pattern Recognition and Predictive Analytics

AI is capable of recognising patterns in data. In this way, AI can be used to monitor projects then analyse the data to anticipate risks as well as suggest resolutions. By leveraging project insights identified by AI, project managers can work to avoid risks and improve project outcomes.

Project Scoping

AI can be used to scope projects by suggesting components of your system based on the type of software you are looking to create. For example, software project requirements gathering tool Requiment uses AI to suggest potential entities that make up your software project, along with fields for these entities, so that details aren’t missed. This saves project managers time by creating a detailed project specification that can be adjusted easily as needed.

Automated Testing

AI can be used in software development to test software. By using AI to perform these tasks, developers can save time from their own testing schedule. Also, AI can be run to test applications throughout the development process, where developers would test at different stages depending on the project methodology (e.g., waterfall or agile). This AI testing can help the project manager limit rework and improve the quality of the delivered software through the identification of bugs.

The Changing Role of Project Managers

The role of the project manager will not change overnight. As with most jobs, it has always been developing. Project managers use software and techniques now that did not exist in the past. As AI develops, project managers will incorporate it into their work at various stages and in various ways. Greater freedom from administrative tasks will afford them greater time to focus on the softer skills of management. AI analytics will provide them with information more quickly than they could analyse themselves. Using this information alongside AI predictions and organisation tools to inform their work and improve project approach.

Conclusion

As AI develops the roles of most jobs will change. And that is no different for project managers. Therefore, project managers that are able to research AI and discern what AI they should incorporate will be able to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their work.

Interested in the impact AI is having on businesses? Register for our webinar on 25th May – Artificial Intelligence: The Changing Business Landscape.