With technology advancing at breakneck speed, it’s natural to wonder if project management will be automated at some point. With that in mind, today we discuss the relationships between artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and project management.
Will Project Management Be Automated?
If the question is “Will project management be automated?” then the answer is that project management IS already automated to a large extent.
Thanks to project management software, today’s project managers don’t have to draw Gantt charts by hand and get help with everything from deadline reminders to budget management and risk mitigation.
Now, if the question is “Will project management ever be completely automated?” Well, that’s another question.
According to a study by the Project Management Institute (PMI), 81% of project professionals report that their organizations are being impacted by artificial intelligence technologies.
The study goes on to highlight six AI technologies that respondents expect to deliver a high-to-moderate future impact.
- Knowledge-based systems. Technologies that are able to understand the context of data being processed and are therefore able to assist human decision-making.
- Machine learning. Systems that analyze data and detect patterns to improve decision-making with minimal human intervention.
- Decision management. Intelligent processes based on rules and logic to automate decision-making.
- Expert systems. Technologies that are able to emulate human intelligence in a particular field, skill, or topic.
- Deep learning. The process of building, training, and testing neural networks that predict outcomes.
- Robotic process automation. Mimics human tasks to support corporate processes.
Project Management and AI
As you can see, project managers can expect to see greater involvement of AI technology in decision-making in the near future. This would mark a milestone in project management because decision-making is a process long thought to be exclusive of human intelligence.
However, projects are so complex and filled with eminently human subtleties that it’s unlikely that we’ll see fully automated project management in the short or even medium term. Some degree of human intervention will remain necessary to validate the decisions and tasks carried out by AI systems.
On the other hand, AI has the potential to take the efficiency of project management to a whole new level.
According to the same study quoted earlier, organizations that embrace AI deliver 61% of their projects on time, as opposed to 47% of those reluctant to take advantage of AI.
Also, AI innovators reported that 69% of their projects achieved 95% of their business benefits as opposed to 53% of projects for AI-reluctant organizations.
About Darnell Technical
Darnell Technical Services is an engineering design firm with extensive experience in a vast array of projects. Our headquarters are located in Santa Ana, California, and we have an office in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Contact us today by telephone (714-285-0082 (CA), 702-945-2899 (NV)) or through our social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to learn more about all the technical instruments and materials we put at your disposal.
