Whatever company or industry you work in, it is highly likely that some aspects of every project will be difficult. This is despite the experience of the project team, project management courses they’ve attended and professional qualifications they’ve gained. That really is just the nature of project management and why it is different from business-as-usual. But AI and automation can help.
Driven by AI, the world of technology is moving at an astounding pace. In fact, unless you are in the thick of it you won’t realise just how fast it is actually moving. And it is expected to grow at an exponential rate. Both automation and AI have been responsible for making a whole number of roles significantly easier with less requirement for involvement of individuals. This means less manual labour is needed for repetitive tasks and leaves employees free to dedicate their time to complex tasks.
There is a real concern in the workforce, however, that AI will take over and jobs will be lost. Whilst many are excited about the changes AI is bringing to the workplace there are an equal number who are concerned.
What is project management with AI?
There will often be difficult decisions to make for those involved in a project. Whether they are developers, coordinators, designers or the project manager themselves. There will be tasks of a repetitive nature to perform and there will be data to process. It would be so much easier if you didn’t have to manage and monitor every minor task on your project. This is where AI can come into its own. When you introduce AI into your project it could free up time for your team and help them make better decisions.
In project management, AI is a system that you could put in place to make your daily tasks much easier. These are the tasks that can be automated without the need for a human to intervene. Once the system is able to understand the project data it will develop insights to assist in the automation of tasks. With time, the AI system will be able to work on making improvements to your projects thus saving you time and making the whole team more productive.
It is not uncommon for a business to employ AI-driven software to manage certain aspects of their projects. There are a number of different options available on the market although, of course, not all of them have automation capabilities. Most projects will require a degree of automation while others will have a heavier emphasis on AI. Automation, in fact, could be considered the foundation stone to project management AI. It includes automation, integration, chatbot assistants and project management that uses machine-driven learning. There are already several companies that have their own project management automation tools. And they have already begun to use new AI technology within their proceses.
So just how do automation and AI assist with project management?
1.Effective and more productive results
All too often, tasks completed by humans can have errors either due to unfamiliarity or because they are careless. The aim of AI is to eliminate or reduce the possibility of these errors occurring and completing the tasks in a reduced amount of time. Because AI can be used to automate some of the more repetitive tasks, things like sending emails or reminders about delays that have occurred in the project, fewer errors could occur.
When these tasks are automated it can, in fact, save a significant amount of time for the whole project team. This time is something that they can then use for the more complex tasks that they may need to complete. They can even use this time to develop innovative ideas that could help in both the current or future project.
All too often projects are completed under time pressures that don’t allow for the development of new ideas. Investing time to come up with innovative ideas for the advancement of their project can have the added benefit of developing better processes for future projects and generally improving productivity and project success rate. When there is an AI-driven system in use a team can be quickly be notified of issues on the project, because it can analyse, identify and understand the data round the clock.
2.Automation means less repetition
AI and automation make improvements in the productivity and efficiency of a project cycle. They also look at eliminating repetitive tasks. In instances where employees spend much of their time working on tedious admin tasks, AI can take over these tasks. Hence, freeing up the time in order for these individuals to use their time more wisely. Complex tasks may not (yet) be the ones that AI can undertake but AI can free up more time for the project team to tackle the complex tasks.
3.Better insights into your project
One of the highlights of AI and automation in project management is project analysis. This is one of the biggest challenges of project management. Project analysis offers managers insights into the performance of their project considering a number of parameters including deliverables, goals and objectives.
With automation and AI in place, a project manager can predict an accurate completion date. This will be based on the rate at which different steps of the project are being completed. They can also analyse data from previous projects, to help better understand how they completed these projects. And also what issues occurred in the past and how they can consistently be avoided.
This can assist with controlling your budget and time. But also reducing, and in many cases removing, the risk of avoidable errors.
