"AI will not replace project managers in the foreseeable future, but those who do not keep up with developments risk becoming less relevant," says Jerk Vallgårda, Senior Consultant in Project Management at Plantvision.
AI as support - not replacement
AI has the potential to relieve project managers of repetitive and administrative tasks. For example, tools can summarize meeting notes, generate reports and automate routine tasks.
"It gives project managers more time to focus on leadership, team dynamics and facilitating progress and business value," explains Vallgårda.
"The biggest mistake would be to rely blindly on AI tools. The best tools are those that prompt users to think for themselves and make informed decisions. It's about creating an interaction between humans and machines, not letting AI do everything on its own. It will be important to find the right balance - an AI tool that delivers 70-75% quality of its analysis stimulates the user to reflect and make active decisions," says Jerk.
He continues:
"If the accuracy is too high, there is a risk that the project manager will relax and accept everything the AI suggests without question. And most of us have seen that AI is sometimes completely wrong or, as they say, hallucinating."
Two types of AI tools in project management
Today, there are two main categories of AI tools for project management:
- General AI tools- Tools such as ChatGPT and Copilot can be linked to agents to perform workflows. For example, they can summarize transcribed meetings, suggest action plans and generate tailored reports.
- Specialized AI tools- These are trained for specific project management tasks such as risk identification, resource balancing and lessons learned analysis. For example, they can help anticipate problems by analyzing past projects and drawing conclusions about future challenges.
RAIDLOG is an example of a tool that has AI support for both risk identification and for finding relevant lessons learned reported by previous projects. RAID stands for Risk, Actions, Issues and Decisions and acts as a structured assistant that keeps track of project challenges and decisions. With the help of AI, the tool can analyze historical data and identify possible project risks. AI-supported Lessons Learned is their latest addition, with AI identifying lessons and experiences from previous projects that are relevant to a specific, new project.
In addition to these, there are also AI solutions that act as a coach and guide project managers through established standards and best practices. The prime example is PMI's Inifity, which is included in the PMI membership.
"Combining several tools from different categories creates optimal conditions for effective project management," says Vallgårda.
Challenges and opportunities
One of the biggest challenges today is navigating the rapidly growing range of AI tools.
"Everyone claims to have AI in their project tools, but it is often difficult to determine how relevant they are. If a tool requires a huge amount of data input before it provides useful insights, the time savings may not be as great as promised," Vallgårda explains.
At the same time, AI opens up enormous opportunities. For example, AI can identify warning signs in a project in real time, making it possible to act proactively rather than reactively.
"One application where you want very high quality is transcribing and summarizing meetings. If you have tried the Teams feature for a meeting where Swedish is the language, you are probably not satisfied. But there are other tools that are really good, even in Swedish," says Vallgårda.
A way forward for project managers
For project managers, the future is about embracing AI as part of their workflow, but in a strategic and thoughtful way. At Plantvision, we are continuously exploring how AI can best be used to improve project management and we are happy to share our insights and experiences. By combining expertise with innovative technologies, we can help create a modern and sustainable project management.
"The most important thing is to understand how AI can empower your own work and to see it as a support, rather than a replacement. The project managers who learn to use AI in the right way will be the ones who lead the way forward," Vallgårda concludes.
Want to know more about how AI can strengthen your project management? Contact us at Plantvision for an in-depth discussion about the future of work.
