Author: George Pitagorsky

The Impact of AI-Infused PM Platforms

By George Pitagorsky

Opportunities and challenges are faced in adopting integrated AI-augmented PM platforms to manage projects better. In a recent survey-based white paper, the authors concluded that AI is

“… reshaping project management landscapes. However, the success of AI integration depends heavily on building trust and acceptance among project teams and stakeholders. This trust is fostered through transparent AI systems, ethical usage, and seamless integration with existing tools.”[1]

PM Platforms

Integrated PM platforms are suites of

• Project planning and control software,
• Workflow automation,
• Social media (intranet) tools,
• Reporting and document and knowledge management,
• Templates,
• Methodologies, standards, and policies.

The PM platform’s purpose is to increase the power of project managers and decision-makers at all levels of the organization, reduce the effort of performers, and promote quality, consistency, and control across multiple projects.

AI Infused Platforms

AI-infused platforms can change decision-making at all levels, from portfolio planning and project initiation to design and execution decisions. They can

• Reduce administrative burden
• Improve communications
• Promote consistency
• Aid in estimating, scheduling, resource allocation, risk, and communications management.

But Beware!

Unless your project management environment is successfully using an integrated platform, expect a major change effort.

As in all applications of process automation, the benefits require careful selection and implementation, or upgrade of an existing platform, procedures and methods, training, and the active buy-in of stakeholders from senior executives to individual performers.

Now, AI needs a significant amount of human guidance and control. Since bots learn quicker than humans, it’s unclear how long it will be before humans are the ones being guided and controlled.

What AI-Infused PM Tools Do

I am not recommending any AI-related products. It is up to you to do research and select based on your situation.

A recent presentation on Zoom’s AI Companion identified features that include annotating videos, creating meeting summaries, project status reports, and to-do lists. It can schedule appointments based on the content of a meeting. The platform enables team interactions, document and calendar management, and more.

SharePoint and Monday.com are other platforms that support project and operational work. They integrate project management tools, document management, team communications, and more.

ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, integrated into the platform, can create reports and images. They can answer questions that would require hours or days of human effort. AI interacts with human operators in the same way a systems analyst or project administrator would, asking questions to refine answers. And AI delivers results in seconds. It can provide post-project or interim performance summaries and analyses.

While content editing and verification are required, AI-generated content is achieved faster and with less effort. And the writing is as good as or better than what many humans can deliver.

AI-Supported Decision Making

When asked “Can AI make decisions based on project data to predict schedule and budget outcomes?” Search Labs AI said

“Yes, AI can utilize project data to make predictions about future schedule and budget outcomes, … analyze historical data and identify patterns that can forecast potential delays, cost overruns, and overall project success rates, allowing for more informed decision-making by project managers.”

AI can estimate task durations, risks, and multiple scenarios of schedules and budgets based on dependencies, resource allocations, historical performance, current budget, and performance data.

Tools like Forecast can provide dashboards that show who is working on what and where resource loading needs to be adjusted.

AI Requirements

AI-infused PM platforms support administration, reporting, planning, control, and decision-making. How well it does this depends on

• Data
• Skillful selection
• Patient, persistent implementation, management, support and use.

Data

AI reminds me of Audrey II, the human-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors. Audrey’s refrain is “Feed me“. AI doesn’t eat human flesh and blood like Audrey II, it eats data:

• past and current project plans,
• schedules and estimates,
• resources,
• task assignments,
• planned and actual accomplishments, effort, and costs,
• process definitions,
• calendars,
• documents, recordings, images, descriptions, and prompts or questions.

The most challenging data to collect are current actuals. Project performers must accurately enter their hours and accomplishments. Administrators or performers must enter costs tied to project tasks, changes, and risk events.

In some cases, collecting effort and completion effort can be entirely automated. For example, if a project performer is working on tasks on a workstation or mobile device, effort can be captured. Task completions can be inferred upon the completion and submitting deliverables for review or testing.

More commonly, actuals are entered by performers. The easier it is to use and the more proactive the data collection tool is, the more likely the data will be entered. Its accuracy depends on the person making the entry and the way the tools have been implemented.

Selecting and Implementing the Platform

Selecting and implementing the right platform for an organization depends on the types of projects being performed and the current and planned states of the enterprise’s application architecture. Selection criteria are

• Easy tool integration and implementation
• Integration with existing enterprise infrastructure and tools
• Security
• Scalability
• Flexibility to enable multiple project types
• Ease of use
• Supportability, sustainability, and support
• Cost of acquisition, implementation, use, and ongoing maintenance and enhancement.

Implementation, Management and Use

Implementing a project management platform is part of a performance improvement program aimed at increasing effectiveness, reducing costs, and increasing quality.

The program’s complexity and duration depend on the current state of project management. Adding new tools and functions is relatively easy if the project management culture is mature with well-working tools and processes, a functional project office, and effective training and knowledge management.

Where there is less maturity, significant cultural and organizational change must be expected and managed. The basic needs for implementing a PM platform are the same as for implementing any work process automation:

• A realistically planned and managed program
• A platform designed to fit within an enterprise architecture
• Reliable, easy-to-use, and supported software
• Procedures and methods
• Cultural change management and training
• Skillful and experienced implementors
• Executive-level support and funding
• Patient persistence.

Manage the Change

Borrowing a phrase from Bob Dylan “The Times They Are A-Changin“. The age of AI and integrated project management platforms is upon us. Adapt or be left benind.

Take a breath, step back, and assess where you and your organization are in the evolution of your project management career, process, and knowledge. Then decide where you want to be in terms of your career and organizational health.

[1] The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Project Management: A Survey, Dr. Elissa Farrow, Ph.D. & Dr. Leon Herszon, Ph.D., International Institute for Learning, https://blog.iil.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/The-Impact-of-Artificial-Intelligence-in-Project-Management-A-Survey.pdf

Take a Healthy Break to Perform Optimally

By George Pitagorsky

Taking a healthy break is a sign of self-awareness and being smart enough to know that you’ll be better at whatever you do when you come back to it.

Project environments are stressful, both physically and emotionally. It is the nature of working with deadlines, a variety of stakeholders, and complex issues that require sustained focused attention.

Stress is not a bad thing to be avoided, though too much of it and the wrong kind, like worry, lead to health issues, deplete energy, and reduce effectiveness.

Project managers and performers know how to manage stress. They take healthy breaks – anything from a short “Breather” to 15 minutes for coffee, an hour, a day, or more.

Healthy Breaks

What is a “healthy” break?

A healthy break is any stepping back from your work that fits your situation and offers the rest, relaxation, and renewal that is needed to enable optimal performance.

Ask the experts and they usually give you generic answers like “20 minutes is an ideal break,” “take a break every 30 minutes”, or “take a walk in nature.”

The reality is that while there are general guidelines it is up to you to take meaningful breaks when they are needed. And there are several options that you can mix and match.

A “healthy break” is a step away from your work to shift your attention and recharge mentally and physically.

You use movement, breath work, posture change, relaxation techniques, or simply a change of scenery, to refocus and become more effective when you return to work. The objective is to shift your mental attention away from your work. Disengage mentally and rest physically.

A break doesn’t require going to the gym or having a cup of coffee, tea, or the beverage of your choice. You don’t have to leave your desk.

However, depending on the circumstances, you may find long breaks, for example, a day off or vacation, to be what you need to get the benefits of a break.

Benefits

The benefits are improved concentration and attention, stress reduction, greater creativity, improved decision-making, injury prevention, and physical comfort. These promote greater productivity and effectiveness.

For example, sitting and working at a computer for extended periods without getting up and stretching or moving about contributes to repetitive motion injuries and lower back aches.

Standing and doing simple exercises, right at your desk refreshes you mentally and lets your body adjust to allow a healthy flow of energy and relief.

Focus attention on a challenging problem for too long and you experience a reduction in your ability to concentrate. Step away from the problem and relax and you come back better able to focus. You can allow the more subtle powers of the mind to let the solution come to you.

Maybe you have experienced a breakthrough on problem you have been struggling with while taking a shower or during an exercise routine.

Keeping your head down and focused on a task for too long and you lose perspective and don’t allow yourself to reevaluate your goals or approach. Step back to see the big picture.

Signs You Need a Break

While guidelines for setting an alarm to take a break every half-hour is a good idea, it is even better to learn to listen to your body and brain telling you it is time to stop what you are doing, get up, and step back.

The signs that you need a break are subtle at first. They become more demanding if you miss them or ignore them. Cultivate the mindful awareness you need to become aware of the subtle signs.

The most common signs that occur are increased tension, irritability, frustration, making errors, loss of concentration or focus, loss of motivation, eye strain, and aches and pains. If you find that you are getting sick more frequently it may be a sign that you need more than a few minutes away from work.

Reasons for NOT Taking a Break

Even when the signs appear workers may ignore them and push on. Common causes are

• Lack of awareness of signs that you need a break
• Having a sense that there just isn’t the time to take a break because there is so much to do
• Wanting to get finished quickly – you think “There is just a little bit more to do so I’ll just press on.”
• Fear of missing a deadline
• Thinking that you will look like a slacker
• Feeling guilty because others are working away and you think you should too
• Fearing that stopping will cause a loss in momentum
• Cultural pressure to overwork
• Lack of awareness of the signs that it is time for a break
• Not understanding the benefits of taking a break.

Types of Breaks

There are many options for taking meaningful breaks.

Short breaks can be a moment of breath and body awareness. You stop what you are doing and adjust your posture to become comfortably erect. You turn your attention to the sensations of your breath and body.

Taking a bit more time you can stand and stretch or take a little walk. You can practice a breath concentration and relaxation technique like four rounds of Box Breathing –

breathe in for a count of four, hold for four, exhale for four, and hold the breath out for four.

Do that for a few minutes and you will feel refreshed and relaxed.

Changing your surroundings by going outside or to another room takes more time but offers an opportunity to clear your mind and relax more completely.

Coffee, snack breaks, or a power nap are other techniques. Listen to music. Do some Yoga or movement. Chat with a co-worker. Play ping-pong. Meditate.

Weekends, days off, and vacations are longer breaks that are needed between projects or during extended projects. Build these into schedules.

Bottom-line

Remember that we are limited in our capacity to sustain concentrated effort for long periods. Taking healthy and appropriate breaks allows us to use our energy more effectively, avoid unnecessary errors, and be more productive, healthier, and effective.

Fractional Project Managers and the PM Role

By George Pitagorsky

Every conscious activity to create or improve is a project.

As leadership recognizes the importance of project management and its cost, interest in using fractional project managers is growing. This is a practical approach in organizations that do large projects infrequently, or in small—to medium-sized organizations that need project management capability but are thinly staffed.

Fractional project management can also be used in large organizations with or without a strong project office where fractional PMs may be full-time employees or contractors.

Like all attractive ideas, fractional project management can only add value if it is applied skillfully. It can only be applied skillfully if it is well-understood as a complex approach that requires tailoring to each situation.

Fractional project management is a label for a way of working that has been around for decades. Having a name for it is helpful to highlight the approach as an option for handling project management career planning and staffing.

Opportunity and Threat

As a professional project manager, it is important to be aware of any trend that opens new opportunities or changes work relationships.

For example, there is the opportunity to practice the skills required to manage multiple projects simultaneously and use those skills to further your career. There is the threat that organizations will not need to employ and manage full-time project managers. There is the threat that fractional project managers may be spread too thin and assigned ambiguous role definitions and expectations.

It is also important for C-level and other senior decision-makers to understand the pros and cons, risks, and benefits of using fractional project management as a business practice.

Complex Decision

The decision to use fractional PMs is complex. It depends on an understanding of the PM’s role, cultural acceptance, the nature of the project, communication and collaboration infrastructure, and the organization’s strategy for building its project management competency.

While the decision can be made on a project-by-project basis, it is more powerful to consider it as part of the business strategy. A strategic approach recognizes that project management competency is critical to success.

Of course, knowing what “fractional project management” means is a starting point for making the right decision and getting desired results.

Fractional Project Management

Fractional Project Management uses project management experts on multiple projects simultaneously, or are taking on project work as needed. Therefore, fractional project managers. (it is hard to get rid of the image of an eighth of a project manager giving a presentation).

A fractional project manager (FPM) is a professional project manager with expertise in managing multiple projects. FPMs may be internal employees in a large organization or, more likely, external personnel in a contracting arrangement. They work within a flexible framework tailored to the specific needs of a project and its setting.

The specific skills required depend on the role defined for the FPM That role definition is one of the critical factors in making fractional project management effective.

Critical Success Factors

Earlier we identified the factors that need to be considered when deciding to use FPMs. These are the critical success factors:

• Definition of the FPM’s role
• Cultural acceptance of the concept
• The nature of the project – the need
• Communication and collaboration infrastructure
• The organization’s strategy for building project management competency.

Definition of the FPM’s role

A project manager is an administrator and facilitator who enables a project team to effectively perform. As an administrator the project manager, using the communication and collaboration platform, collects data, compiles reports, facilitates planning, schedules meetings, makes presentations, and manages change, risk, and monitoring.

The PM must be an expert communicator with deep expertise in the project management process – planning, monitoring and controlling, managing change, quality, and risk, facilitating decision-making, conflict resolution, and closing the project.

A project manager may have significant authority to make decisions and directly manage resources. In other cases, the project is within a matrixed environment in which functional managers and project managers must collaborate to assign and manage resources and influence schedules and budgets.

When the FPM role is limited to administration and facilitation, FPMs can more easily perform across multiple projects. Particularly, if the communication and collaboration infrastructure is sound.

Cultural Acceptance of the Concept

Successful use of FPMs requires the acceptance of “partnering” with an external, part-time resource in a critical management position. Many organizations are averse to contracting or outsourcing services like project management. They do not want to give up control or manage contractor-client relationships. They want to retain knowledge and capability. They want to protect intellectual property and competitive advantage.

Internal stakeholders may not feel comfortable working with contractors. They may not be able to get over an us-vs.-them mindset.

For fractional project management to work relationship issues must be addressed. The goal is for the team to work with contractors as accepted team members.

It is important for all concerned to recognize the benefits of outsourcing or fractionalizing the PM role – external perspective with industry or project-type experience, expertise in applying best practices and state-of-the-art tools not available internally, cost savings, staffing flexibility, risk reduction, and transferring knowledge to build internal competency.

The Nature of the Project

Projects come in all shapes and sizes, from two or three people working toward a mutual objective to projects with casts of thousands across multiple organizations and huge budgets.

Project management differs depending on the size and complexity of the project. The FPM role must be tailored to the project. For example, decide whether to use an administrative FPM or to use a full-time PM, who may be a contractor.

Communication and Collaboration Infrastructure

The Communication and Collaboration Infrastructure is the technology and standards platform that supports project management and performance. A well-engineered and well-understood infrastructure enables the use of fractional PMs

The technology consists of products that enable project planning and control, communication, document management, and calendar management, supported by Artificial Intelligence. Standards are policies, procedures, templates, methodologies, etc.

An integrated overall system maximizes benefits. Because many organizations do not have well-integrated infrastructure it is beneficial to engage a PM contractor that brings state-of-the-art tools and standards.

The Organization’s Strategy for Building Project Management Competency.

The use of fractional project management is a business decision. It depends on the specific situation at hand and the long-term view regarding project management expertise.

Let’s look at a couple of scenarios:

In scenario 1 we have a medium-sized company with 50 employees. Executive management wants to implement a comprehensive system to streamline operations.

Everyone in the company is busy. No one has ever been involved in business process automation. While there are some project management capabilities in the IT department, the staff is primarily involved in maintenance, technical operations, and support.

In this case, the strategy might be to outsource project management and assign an employee to become an in-house project management expert and work closely with the contractor. The degree to which the project manager is full or part-time is negotiable. My goal is to create an internal project management capability.

In scenario 2, we have a large organization with hundreds of employees and a mature project management office. There are many projects of diverse sizes. The firm has found it difficult to hire project managers.

The PMO manager may use either internal or contractor staff to act as fractional PMs. They would have to use the internal infrastructure and report to the PMO.

What’s Next

Economic conditions and the availability of AI-infused project management and collaboration tools are leading toward greater use of fractional project management as a business strategy.

Using your knowledge of fractional PM, decide how you want to approach it.

Do you have the skills and desire to be a fractional PM? Do you make decisions about using fractional PMs? Can you inform or influence executive decision-makers?

When projects “succeed” by delivering defined scope on time and within budget, and their products and services fail to deliver expected benefits, has the project succeeded?

Project success boils down to meeting expectations, particularly the expectation to achieve the business objectives that justified the project’s initiation. Let’s explore how a focus on business value contributes to project success.

Note: We will use the term “business” when discussing objectives and benefits. If you are in a non-business organization, replace “business” with “organizational.”

Benefits Awareness

In healthy organizations, projects are initiated to deliver new or changed products and services that benefit the organization and its members.

As a project manager, it is best practice to make sure you and your team are aware of business benefit targets so that you avoid the all too common trap of focusing solely on schedules, budgets, features, and technical objectives rather than the reason for the project from a business perspective.

With benefits awareness, it is more likely that as objectives, requirements, and designs are defined the alignment between project and business objectives will be maintained.

Project Success

The Kirkpatrick success model says that training success is based on the degree to which participants apply what they have learned and that the results make a positive difference.

Trainers and courses are evaluated based on how well participants receive them. The most important results – whether what was learned was applied and whether it made a positive difference – are hard to measure, and they are not known until well after the course is over and the trainer has gone home. Very often they are not measured at all.

It is like that with projects as well. The project ends, and its success is measured based on whether target dates were hit within budget constraints and whether quality criteria have been met.

Of course, these are important success criteria. But when they are met at the expense of features and functions that enable the organization to improve, they contribute to failure.

Examples

Commonly cited examples of projects that have succeeded in meeting technical expectations but failed to achieve business value are product-to-market projects such as “New Coke,” SONY Betamax, and Crystal Pepsi projects.

For example, in 1985, Coca-Cola decided to improve its product. The project included all aspects of bringing a product to market, from fabrication to marketing. It was delivered on time and within budget. Months later, New Coke was so strongly rejected by consumers that the company was forced to revert to the original. Analysis tells us that poor market research and underestimation of customer loyalty to existing products were the root causes.

While they are less dramatic, there are examples in the realm of technology-centered process improvement projects. In one case an organization applied Agile development to change a department’s business process. They delivered a change that optimized it but disrupted the overall business process that the department was part of. In this case, the root cause was a failure to step back to assess and strategically address the overall business system before diving into the Agile project. The lesson learned is to use Agile development wisely and embed projects in the context of enterprise architecture and strategic planning.

In another case, a website was developed on time, within budget, and without technical flaws. When it was delivered and used it was difficult to navigate, and did not deliver the expected value. Here the cause was a technical focus with a strong drive to get the project done on time coupled with a lack of engagement with the user community. An Agile approach would have been beneficial.

Similar examples exist in construction and infrastructure projects.

Causes

How can failures like this be avoided? We start by identifying causes and then doing what is necessary and practical to eliminate them. Experience tells us that common causes are

• Not recognizing that business value is the most important objective
• Not defining business goals and success criteria
• Failure to engage end users in market analysis and product design. End users may be product consumers or application system users.
• Taking a tactical focus without a strategic context
• Applying the wrong approach. For example, an Agile approach when a hybrid or Waterfall approach is more appropriate, a highly structured approach when agility is needed, an off-the-shelf package when a custom product is needed, or a custom solution when an off-the-shelf one will suffice
• Letting the desire to be on time and within budget excessively drive projects. The Sydney Australia Opera House project was budgeted at $7 million and estimated to be completed in 4 years, it took AU $102 million and 14 years to complete. But in the end, it was a great success.
• Overlooking the need to include organizational change management in project plans
• Underestimating the speed of technological change – applying technologies that will soon be replaced by far better options

Learn from Experience

The way forward is to eliminate these causes. Begin by raising the consciousness of all stakeholders, particularly the executives and sponsors who lead the effort to ensure that projects pay off. With the recognition of the ultimate project objective and the causes of failure to achieve them

• clearly state and remind everyone about business objectives and set metrics to use to measure performance
• include failure to meet business objectives in risk management
• ensure that each project is evaluated in light of an overall strategy and enterprise architecture to avoid sub-optimizing the system when optimizing a part of it
• engage end users and potential consumers to validate the perceptions of designers and marketing professionals while working through resistance to new ideas
• manage organizational and technological change
• get better at scope definition, estimating, and scheduling while being flexible enough to adapt to changes in scope that are discovered as the project proceeds.

The Bottomline

In summary, spend quality time and effort at the start of each project to make sure that projects are initiated to add value by delivering new and changed products and services that benefit the organization and its members.

While technical and traditional project objectives like time, cost, and scope are important, success means meeting expected business benefit expectations.