The Role of Context and Prompt Design
in AI-Enhanced Project Management
FEATURED PAPER
By Massimo Pirozzi
Rome, Italy
ABSTRACT
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used more in project management practice, but its adoption is narrowly focused in prompt engineering — the skill of creating good inputs to large language models and other AI systems. Prompt engineering is fundamental but cannot by itself realize the potential of AI in the complex project environment. This article presents and investigates the complementary field of context engineering — conscious planning and designing of data, parameters, rules, and constraints under which AI works. Through the investigation of both concepts and the demonstration of their synergy, the article illustrates how project managers can obtain more precise, relevant, and value-driven AI results. Practical models, practical applications within the real world, and mitigation strategies are discussed, in addition to a look-ahead discussion of context-aware and autonomous AI agents. It is the intention to provide project professionals with practical advice on how to apply context and prompt design to optimize decision-making, enhance stakeholder communication, and achieve optimal project performance in the AI-enhanced era.
INTRODUCTION
In the recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transitioned from trial experimentation to systematic adoption in project management (PM). Initial exploration—usually confined to automating processes or simple results—has progressed to formalized approaches that facilitate planning, risk evaluation, communication with stakeholders, and decision-making. As corporations start to depend on AI for key project activities, the argument is transferring away from “Can AI help? “To “how do we bring out its maximum value with reliability, precision, and compliance with our project goals?”.
AI technologies more and more become part of project management workstreams, changing the way projects are planned, delivered, and controlled. Similarly, training organizations focus on the development of AI capabilities, with prompt design being an essential skill for project professionals. Prompt engineering – the ability to write well-crafted prompts or instructions for an AI – has become front and center as practitioners understand that “AI output is only as good as the question and instruction posed (Institute Project Management, 2025).”. PMI has defined prompt engineering as “the process of interacting with an AI…in order to get the best possible and most suitable response,” where project managers author, test, and iterate prompts to direct AI models to produce hoped-for outputs (Project Management Institute, 2023). Having expertise in prompt techniques has been heralded as a fresh source of competitive edge in business. However, concentrating on prompts only solves half the issue.
Seasoned project managers understand that context is the most important element in complex projects – AI must “know” the environment, limitations, and information of the project so it can offer really useful insights. Requesting an answer from an AI simply without providing context related to the project typically yields generic or meaningless answers, particularly in intricate project settings where precision and sensitivity to context are needed. Context engineering takes center stage here. Context engineering is the intentional structuring and design of the information environment in which AI works, i.e., data inputs, constraints, goals, and organizational parameters. Through proper engineering of context, AI systems are able to perform with a richer sense of the problem space, and this contributes immensely to improving the quality and relevance of their output. Context engineering is the deliberate act of choosing and presenting the appropriate background information, data, and parameters to place the reasoning of the AI. It essentially means making sure the AI receives all the information it needs about the context of the project prior to it trying to help. Recent argument has it that the bulk of AI agent failure is not caused by less competent models but by “context failures” – the AI was not provided the right information or tools to succeed (Schmid, 2025).
Particularly with the advent of AI agents (which can carry out multi-step procedures on their own), it is really the “quality of the context we give it” that is being held responsible for success (Schmid, 2025). In project environments with many stakeholders, technical specifics, and historical nuances, giving this context is imperative. The central argument of this paper is that the synergy between prompt engineering and context engineering is being held responsible for realizing the ultimate potential of AI in project management. Through integration of these two approaches, project managers are able to create workflows supported by AI that are more accurate, standardized, and aligned with project objectives as well as organizational standards. In the subsequent pages, we formalize prompt engineering and context engineering and highlight why their integration is so vital for AI-aided project management. We suggest an in-the-field model for integrating these methodologies, and explore applications from project planning to stakeholder messaging where prompt–context harmony is delivering tangible payoffs. We mention challenges – including data quality, preventing AI mistakes, and preserving sensitive project information – and how to reduce them.
Ultimately, there is the future, including the emergence of context-sensitive autonomous AI agents that will go on to reshape project management further. By bearing in mind and taking advantage of the union of prompt and context design, project practitioners can transcend individual AI tricks and instead make progress toward a firm, disciplined adoption of AI that enhances project outcomes (Barcaui & Monat, 2023).
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How to cite this paper: Pirozzi, M, (2025). Engineering Synergy: The Role of Context and Prompt Design in AI-Enhanced Project Management; PM World Journal, Vol. XIV, Issue IX, September. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/pmwj156-Sep2025-Pirozzi-Engineering-Synergy-Role-of-Context-and-Prompt-Design-in-AI-PM.pdf
About the Author
Massimo Pirozzi
Rome, Italy
Massimo Pirozzi, MSc cum laude, Electronic Engineering, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Project, Program and Portfolio Manager, Lecturer, Educator, Generative AI Leader and Specialist. He is a Member of the Scientific Committee and an Accredited Master Teacher of the Instituto Italiano di Project Management (Italian Institute of Project Management). He is certified as a Professional Project Manager, as an Information Security Management Systems Lead Auditor, and as an International Mediator. He is specialized as a Generative AI Leader, and in Generative Artificial Intelligence for Project and Program Managers, in Generative Artificial Intelligence for Educators, in Responsible Generative Artificial Intelligence, in Prompt Engineering for Project Managers and for Educators, and in Agentic AI. In general, he has more than 70 Credentials in Project Management, Artificial Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Creative and Critical Thinking, Learning Design and Education released by primary US, British, Italian and Singaporean Universities, US Companies, US and Italian Professional Associations.
Massimo is a Researcher, a Lecturer, and an Author about Stakeholder Management, Relationship Management, Complex Projects Management, and Generative AI, and he authored or coauthored more than 50 works in 5 different Countries. In particular, he is the Author of the Book “The Stakeholder Perspective: Relationship Management to enhance Project value and Success”, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton (FL), U.S.A., October 2019, the second Edition of which _ including a consistent additional part dedicated to AI – will be published soon. Due to the acknowledgement of his comments on stakeholder-related issues contained in Exposure Draft of The Standard for Project Management – 7th Edition, he has been recognized as one of the Contributors and Reviewers of the PMBOK® Guide – Seventh Edition, and he received the Certificate of Appreciation for Excellence for his volunteer contributions to the Project Management Institute and the project management profession in 2020. He also received several International Awards.
Massimo Pirozzi has a wide experience in managing large and complex projects, programs, and portfolios in national and international contexts, and in managing business relations with public and private organizations, including multinational companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, research institutes, and non-profit organizations. He worked successfully in several sectors, including Defense, Security, Health, Education, Engineering, Logistics, Cultural Heritage, Transport, Gaming, Services to Citizens, Consulting, and Web. He was also, for many years, a Top Manager in ICT Industry, and an Adjunct Professor in Organizational Psychology. He is registered as an Expert both of the European Commission, and of Italian Public Administrations.
Massimo Pirozzi is an Accomplished Author, a Member of the Executive Team and an International Editorial Advisor of PM World Journal and can be contacted at max.pirozzi@gmail.com.
www.linkedin.com/in/massimo-pirozzi-the-stakeholder-perspective
To view other works by Massimo Pirozzi, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/massimo-pirozzi/
