Will AI replace the Project Manager? Not really.
When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), we cannot ignore that it will play a decisive role, not only in project management, but also in the adoption of agile project management methodologies in the coming years.
It is expected that most of the current jobs will be redefined to take advantage of new opportunities to automate workflow processes. But will the job of a Project Manager be replaced by AI?
To answer that question, one should first ask, what is the need for AI to replace the project manager?
Most of us who have worked in project teams have witnessed why projects can sometimes be less usable and/or successful:
a) Project Managers being more concerned with meeting time and cost rather than providing customer satisfaction;
b) Lack of understanding between the Client and the Contractor or the Project Team; and
c) Untracked success criteria.
Just to be fair, in most companies, delivering on time is the only success criterion you need. 😁
Ok, so now you have to be careful, because a usable product is not always successful and successful does not necessarily mean that the end product/service is usable.
Success is defined by project success criteria, like “Improve customer satisfaction from 60% to 80% over the first six months.”
Project success criteria are the standards by which the project will be judged at the end to decide whether or not it has been successful.
Usability can also be one of the success criteria; for example “Achieve 100% compliance with WCAG Levels A and AA.”
One thing I respect about Agile methodologies, and Scrum in particular, is the definition of “done” —let’s agree for the sake of simplicity, that “done” is the list of the success criteria for the development team.
The following is an indicative list of “done” elements.
- Unit tested
- Code reviewed
- Matches code style guide
- No known defects
- Checked into main dev branch
- Public API documented
- Acceptance tests passed
- Product Owner approved
- Regression tests pass
- Release notes updated
- Performance tests pass
- User guide updated
- Support guide updated
- Security tests pass
- Compliance documentation
Scrum makes it clear that the definition of “done” is part of the conventions, standards or guidelines of the development organization. The organisation provides the “Done” to the development team and the Project Manager.
So, it seems that a successful project is linked to an organisation’s Quality Assurance processes and procedures.
Apparently, the developer and the Project Manager are on the same team and the coach is the Quality Management Approach to the work.
Without the Quality Management Approach, there’s no point in competing for the championship. 😉
So, again, is there a need for AI to replace the project manager?
No. AI will forever change the mothods and processes we use to make sure that teams are efficient and effective as per the quality standards defined by the project’s success criteria. AI will replace the coach.
Here is some interesting work on the future of Project Management, the design of work and some surveys you may find interesting. Thanks for reading this!
