What you need to know about AI right now

What effect is digital transformation having on project management practices, methods and skills? This is the subject of current collaborative research between the Advanced Project Management Research Centre and APM.

Initial research findings will be presented at the APM Conference in June, but I got a sneak peek at some of the early research work that Dr Nicholas Dacre is leading.

Dacre is Director of the Advanced Project Management Research Centre and Associate Professor of Project Management at the University of Southampton.

“We’re at a crossroads between tradition and innovation with the use of artificial intelligence [AI] and project management,” he tells me. “How do we benefit from this technology?”

Dacre’s team are currently working on a systematic literature review of the past decade’s worth of research on digital transformation and AI in project management. The second phase of the research, kicking off in April, will survey up to 1,000 project professionals across various sectors in the UK with the aim of investigating the emerging trends, challenges and opportunities of integrating AI into project management.

The results of the survey will be presented at APM’s June conference.

Should we think of AI as just a tool?

“There is quite a sizeable segment of individuals who tell me that they’ve never engaged with AI — never used ChatGPT — and ask me to explain the fundamentals,” says Dacre.

One way to consider AI is as a professional tool. “Like any tool, if it’s used in the correct way, it can provide some benefits, but if it’s used poorly then you might get some results that you weren’t expecting or that may be detrimental to your project,” he says.

“There’s also the building of trust between the individual and the technology — that it’s going to deliver the types of results that you’re expecting. I also think project professionals need to be the decision-makers.

“It’s about having that agency or autonomy to be able to interpret the data that's been given to you to make that decision.”

Unknown unknowns

What skills and methods will project professionals require to work with AI on their projects?

“First, it’s about adapting the current skills that you have. For example, if it takes you three weeks to develop a risk register, now you can do it in a matter of hours,” Dacre says.

“You need to identify where AI will add value, where there will be a specific benefit to it and the pain points in current processes. What can the technology achieve and how can it improve things?

“Second is the opportunity from the unknown unknowns — the opportunities that AI affords in the mid- to long-term future that we simply aren't aware of. What are the new skills that are going to be required as part of that?” he asks.

“I don’t think we’re at the latter stage yet. I think we are at the embryonic stage right now where we are seeing the quick wins that AI and these types of tools can bring to current systems. Where I genuinely think that we will see new innovations is for certain aspects of project management that we haven’t yet contemplated.”

What you can do right now about AI

What can project professionals be doing right now about getting to grips with AI? Dacre lists four things: exploration, analysis, discussion and integration.

“I invite you to choose an AI tool — it could be Google’s Gemini, Open AI’s ChatGPT or Microsoft’s Co-Pilot, for example. Spend an hour exploring its features, focusing on how it could be applied to a project. Keep a journal of your thoughts and findings and analyse any ideas on how AI could solve a specific project management challenge within one of your projects.

“Share your insights from the exploration task and engage in discussions with your team on AI’s impact on project complexity, decision-making or risk management.

“Finally, when you’ve come to that vision, consider how the insights and ideas gathered from that mission can be integrated into your current project management practices and also future ones.”

APM Conference 2024 will take place 5–6 June 2024 at Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry. Book your place.