Will AI make the project profession obsolete?

AI is everywhere.

We are seeing continuous coverage of the impact of AI upon the global workplace, including whether it will make some professions obsolete.

It can be hard to differentiate the sensational from the serious.

So, what do the experts think? We spoke to QA’s Director of Portfolio Management, Ian Clarkson, to clear the fog:

“There’s a lot of scaremongering going on, yet we can’t deny the fact AI will impact how we work,” Ian said.

“For instance, what about my profession; project management? Is it immune to the impact of AI? Definitely not. There’s a lot of work going on in the industry to see how AI can be used in project management.”

In this blog, we lift the lid on all things AI and project management, to help you stay ahead of the curve.

Why projects fail

“Let’s start with project failure,” suggests Ian. “I could talk about project success, yet failure is a more emotive word. If we understand why projects fail, maybe we can see how AI can help us deliver projects more effectively.”

Before you read on, consider the potential reasons for project failure you’re aware of. Make a list.

Here are the top ten we identified:

• Unclear objectives – including unachievable goals
• Poor planning – lacking the necessary detail and foresight
• Scope creep – lack of control over project growth, especially without resource adjustments
• Poor communication – resulting in disconnected stakeholders
• Inadequate resources – such as budget, personnel or equipment
• Unrealistic deadlines – including overall timeline and milestones
• Lack of stakeholder involvement – like support from users and sponsors
• Bad risk management – that fails to identify and mitigate
• Inadequate management – without the right practices and methodologies
• Technological challenges – including lack of expertise

How does your list compare?

Notice the pattern: “The reasons for project failure are all ‘management/process/people’ reasons – not reasons such as the ‘thing didn’t work’.” So, can AI help us to solve such issues, or not?

What AI adoption means for the Project Profession

As organisations adopt AI, it will permeate through to projects as the vehicles for introducing change.

But remember: “Adopting AI is a change and requires a project. I know, using AI on a project for adoption of AI sounds like a paradox!’

According to The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023, “Within technology adoption, big data, cloud computing and AI feature highly on likelihood of adoption. More than 75% of companies are looking to adopt these technologies in the next five years.”

Meanwhile, IOT Analytics showed that “what CEOs talked about in Q2 2024” heavily centres on “AI, data centres, and up-and-coming LLMs.”

Their report offers 6 key questions that CEOs should ask themselves. Question 1 is: “How can we leverage AI to enhance our existing products and services, and what new opportunities can we explore to stay competitive?”

Project Managers should be asking, How are projects planning to leverage AI??

A key part of this answer will be ‘governance’.

Projects involve various governance documents, like risk management strategy, quality management strategy, data management strategy, and so on. These encompass how the project will do/use risk/quality/data.

Is it time for an ‘AI Strategy’?

Does AI spell the end for the project profession?

So far, it looks like the project profession needs to start leveraging AI pronto – but not necessarily like it’s going to put them out of a job.

According to Elon Musk, in his conversation with the then UK Prime Minster Rishi Sunak:

• AI has the potential to become the “most disruptive force in history”
• For the first time, tech may be “smarter than the smartest human”
• There will come a point where no job is needed, but it’s hard to say when
• Employment may be a matter of personal satisfaction, but AI will be able to do everything

Emotive. And it’s not looking great for jobs!

“OK. Let’s bring it back to reality,” cautions Ian.

Think about those reasons for project failure. Which of the ‘lack’s’ can be replaced by AI?

“Every time I ask this’ Ian shares, ‘there’s a very clear trend that emerges: the things people believe AI can replace are the technological or process aspects. The ones they don’t are the ‘people’ reasons.”

For example;

• AI can help with: Inadequate Planning, Scope Creep, Unrealistic Deadlines, Ineffective Risk Management.
• But it can’t (yet) help with: Lack of Stakeholder Involvement, Poor Communication

“So I think we’re all safe (for now)!” - Reassuring words from Ian, and he’s not alone.

Tye Brady, Amazon’s Chief Robotics Technologist, doesn’t believe organisations will reach the point where they can be fully automated.

“The way that I think about this is a symphony of humans and machines working together, you need both. The challenge that we have in front of us is how do we smartly design our machines to extend human capability.”

As Ian sees it, projects must leverage AI, meaning the question the project profession needs to answer is: How do we smartly design our projects, so they can use AI to extend our human capability?

If you’re ready to upgrade your project management capabilities with AI, get in touch with our experts below.

[1] Exploring the world of Artificial Intelligence, Association for Project Management, 2024

[2] Artificial Intelligence in Project Management, Project Management Institute, 2024

[3] Data Analytics and AI in Government Project Delivery, Infrastructure Projects Office (IPA), Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), Association for Project Management (APM), Major Projects Authority (MPA), 2024