AI is continuing to make inroads into project management and this has given rise to a fear that it will make human managers obsolete. But this is a misconception. AI cannot replace human decision-making, it can only optimise the process. That is to say, AI can help managers make decisions more easily and those decisions will be effective because they are backed by accurate data and insightful conclusions. We have said elsewhere that AI can be likened to a trusted prime minister advising the king; the king is still the one making the decision, it’s just that now he has a single reliable source to collect and filter inputs from the other advisors so he doesn’t get overwhelmed with too much data or distracted by irrelevant data. AI plays a similar role. Today, I will delve a bit into why AI is not just the future of project management but its present. We can see it already transforming project management – and for the better.
First lets understand the ‘before’ scenario.
Projects generate huge amounts of data. Without project management software for EPC like EDMS and PMIS, the human workers and project managers would have to manually collect, verify, parse, analyse, structure, and format this data into reports that could be easily understood and acted upon. This is a huge task in itself, and easier said than done. That is why managers struggle with decision-making. Analysing the huge volumes of data to identify ‘actionable’ points is a daunting one, maybe even impossible without the help of an EDMS or some other engineering project management software solutions which at least capture and collate the data and in some cases format the relevant information into reports, which managers must study and interpret and finally decide what their next step will be. AI is just the next step, interpreting the factual reports and giving the manager suggestions and recommendations to guide his decision.
Now let us look at inter and intra project collaboration which has been the biggest pain point for project managers, and especially those managing multiple large projects concurrently. Without AI-driven digital solutions this was and will continue to be an inefficient, stressful, and conflict-ridden process, easily derailed and thrown off schedule by any sudden internal deviation or unforeseen external disaster. Whereas with AI, such problems will still occur but the response will be very different because everybody in the loop ie all the stakeholders will already be in the same working environment and there will be no panic or finger-pointing or blame-shifting. So as you can see, here again the managers are not being replaced by AI, they are being assisted. Their path is being cleared, their schedules are being streamlined.
What about at the worker level? It has been shown that engineers and teams leads also benefit from using an AI-enabled engineering project management software it allows them to manage their work much more optimally with features like automated and personalised ToDo lists, which instantly make the lives of both the engineers and their managers a lot easier.
But perhaps the most dramatic benefits are seen at the risk management level, where AI is uniquely equipped to support the project manager.
AI can identify areas of concern long before they develop into actual problems and can present them to the project manager with enough convincing data along with suggestions and contingency plans. So the manager is not only aware but armed. He has more information than he ever had before, and that information is useful and actionable. He can make a decision with confidence. The combination of high-quality AI-generated information coupled with the project manager’s native skill and experience is a winning combination by any standard. So again, AI will only enhance the project manager’s role, not replace it.
Without AI the project management landscape would be littered with huge amounts of unstructured data, complex and multi-layered dependencies, and a high number of variables that are difficult to plan for at the best of times. In such a landscape where human ingenuity plays at best a limited role, AI shines.
In a nutshell, the core mission of project managers will not change with AI-enabled project management software but the way they execute the mission will certainly change. Not only will they be able to quickly select and prioritise tasks and replace the drudgery of administrative or housekeeping tasks with proactive and result-oriented thinking, they will be free to focus on improving the company’s business bottom line and brand value, rather than merely achieving the next milestone.
Of course, not every EPC organisation will need AI, or need it right away. If you’re a small project company running only a few projects at a time then AI may not offer many benefits but if you’re a company running many concurrent projects in multiple locations or you’re looking to grow business in a short time, then AI is just what you need.