How AI Changes Organizational Value Creation
FEATURED PAPER
By Imran Afzal, PMP
North Carolina, USA
Abstract
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how organizations produce, analyze, and communicate information. As the cost of generating information declines, organizational value begins to shift from information production toward the ability to interpret information, develop shared understanding, coordinate action, and make sound decisions. This shift has important implications for the role of the Technical Program Manager.
Building on themes introduced in PMI’s The Standard for Artificial Intelligence in Portfolio, Program, and Project Management, this paper examines how artificial intelligence changes where organizations create value and, consequently, where Technical Program Managers create value.
Rather than proposing a new framework or competency model, the paper offers a practitioner perspective on the changing economics of information and the growing importance of interpretation, governance, coordination, and judgment as information work becomes increasingly automated.
Within that environment, the enduring value of the Technical Program Manager lies in helping organizations transform information into shared understanding, coordinated action, and better decisions.
- AI Changes the Economics of Information
PMI’s The Standard for Artificial Intelligence in Portfolio, Program, and Project Management provides guidance for applying artificial intelligence within portfolio, program, and project management. A complementary question is what happens to organizational value as artificial intelligence changes the work itself—and what that means for Technical Program Managers.
Every major technological shift changes where organizations create value.
For decades, organizations have invested heavily in acquiring, analyzing, organizing, and communicating information. Information was expensive to produce and difficult to scale. Much of knowledge work therefore centered on generating reports, synthesizing data, documenting decisions, and sharing information across teams. The ability to produce timely, accurate information often distinguished high-performing organizations from the rest.
Tasks that once required hours of research, analysis, and documentation can now be completed in minutes. The capabilities of artificial intelligence will continue to evolve, but one trend is already apparent: producing information is becoming significantly less expensive.
The implications extend beyond productivity. Technological change also alters the economics of the work it affects.
When the cost of producing something falls, attention tends to move toward the activities that create greater value. Artificial intelligence appears to be following the same pattern. Information can now be produced at a scale and speed that were previously difficult or expensive to achieve.
Information itself is not becoming less important. It is becoming less scarce.
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How to cite this paper: Afzal, I. (2026). Artificial Intelligence and the Technical Program Manager: How AI Changes Organizational Value Creation; PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue IX, September. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/pmwj168-Sep2026-Afzal-AI-and-the-Technical-Program-Manager.pdf
About the Author
Imran Afzal, PMP
Cary, North Carolina, USA
Imran Afzal is the creator of Seeing Organizations™, a philosophy for understanding organizations by revealing the invisible relationships that shape visible behavior. His work explores the human and cognitive dimensions of strategy execution through concepts such as Shared Understanding, Organizational Cognition, Shared Interpretation, and Interpretation Debt, helping leaders better understand the conditions that enable coordinated execution and organizational learning.
Drawing on more than two decades of experience leading enterprise transformation, strategy execution, PMO modernization, governance, and organizational change across global technology organizations, Imran combines practitioner experience with original thought leadership. Through The Strategic PMO blog and Seeing Organizations LinkedIn newsletter, he publishes essays, practitioner papers, and field guides that help leaders better understand—and improve—strategy execution.
