Artificial Intelligence or Human Intelligence?
SECOND EDITION
By Greg Saunders
North Texas, USA
Introduction
Most movies about AI and humans portray a dystopia where the AI “takes over” the world and people must organize a rebellion to regain control. This is the theme of Space Odyssey, Robocop, Blade Runner, and The Matrix, to name a few. While that is one AI potential outcome for the world, what is a logical outcome for the project management profession? Phrased another way, will a RoboPM replace project managers?
The answer to that question comes down to why project managers (PMs) exist. Former Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®®) versions listed core skills a PM had to master, ranging from integration to personnel management to stakeholder management. The fourth edition of the PMBOK® defined the Role of a Project Manager as “. . . the person assigned by the performing organization to achieve the project objectives” (Project Management Institute, 2008, p. 13). The current, seventh edition of the PMBOK® states that every project benefits from some form of coordination (Project Management Institute, 2021, p. 12).
The 2021 role appears to be a significant shift from 2008, changing the role from being the party responsible for delivering the project’s objectives to being responsible for some form of coordination. This role transition reflects the environment. Agilists stand by “context counts,” as do all PMs, and given the move to self-organizing teams and tools enabling them, PMs now coordinate the actions of the team but no longer are solely responsible for delivery of project objectives. AI will drive further transitions in the PM profession around analyzing data, assessing risks, and forecasting estimates at complete. Given clean and accurate input, AI will do those tasks faster and more accurately than humans. This will lead to trust in the AI system. Being responsive with accuracy and the ability to build trust are qualities of leadership that AI will master, but can AI lead a project better than a human project manager?
Definitions
Two definitions are necessary to assess AI’s ability to lead projects (or lead in other disciplines)
- Leader. One who has influence or power (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982, p. 719)
- Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). A set of technologies and techniques that leverage very large corpuses of data, including large language models like GPT-3 [Generative Pre-trained Transformer], to generate new content (Forrester, 2024). For this subject, this includes the ability to simulate a human’s ability to create new content based on existing content and a prompt
Leadership
There have been leaders since the first human community formed. They held titles such as pharaoh, king, queen, mayor, emperor, Caesar (czar), dictator, president, boss, commander, president, or council person. In all cases, the person holds the responsibility of influencing or directing the community’s norms, vision, and goals, and getting the people of the community to adhere to, support, and strive to achieve the community’s goals. For example, each of these leaders likely will stir up images and emotions about your impression of a leader: King Tut, King David, Socrates, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Nero, Attila the Hun, Queen Elizabeth the First, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Ghandi, Lenin, Hitler, Martin Luther King, Jr., Patton, Mao Zedong, Mother Teresa, Mandela, and Powell.
More…
To read entire paper, click here
Editor’s note: Second Editions are previously published papers that have continued relevance in today’s project management world, or which were originally published in conference proceedings or in a language other than English. Original publication acknowledged; authors retain copyright. This paper was originally presented at the 16th UT Dallas PM Symposium in May 2024. It is republished here with the permission of the author and conference organizers.
How to cite this paper: Saunders, G. (2024). Who is the Better Project Manager: Artificial Intelligence or Human Intelligence? presented at the 16th University of Texas at Dallas Project Management Symposium in Richardson, TX, USA in May 2024; republished in the PM World Journal, Vol. XIII, Issue VIII, August. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/pmwj144-Aug2024-Saunders-who-is-better-project-manager-AI-or-human-intelligence.pdf
About the Author
Greg Saunders
North Texas, USA
Greg Saunders is a Disciplined Agile Senior Scrum Master and PMP serving at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, the Exchange, which is an $7B international retailer for America’s Soldiers, Airmen, and Guardians. He’s currently the manager of the Exchange’s Program and Project Portfolio Governance office, setting policy for and managing a $511M portfolio of 90 programs, projects, and initiatives. Previously at the Exchange he 1) served as PMO head with a team of 22, 2) served as the lead PM for the Exchange’s largest program—replacing the accounting systems; 3) worked with PM, governance, and system analyst leads to architect the transformation of the Exchange’s program management approach; 4) served as the systems portfolio manager of 51 primary HR, payroll, & data warehouse systems; and 5) served as the PMO head for a 16-person team managing a $150M portfolio of 60 projects.
Prior to joining the Exchange, he ran a $2.5M/year business in a top-tier consultant firm. During his USAF career he re-established the Denver-based Air Reserve Personnel Center’s (ARPC) PMO; led the upgrade to ARPC’s portion of the Air Force Personnel Center’s call center that supports over 6 million reservists, retirees, and their surviving spouses; and as a colonel at the Pentagon served as both the USAF Reserves Comptroller and the Reservist to the AF CIO Director for Cyberspace Capabilities and Compliance, overseeing a team of 60 managing the USAF’s cyberspace capabilities, policy, and compliance. Over his 35-year career he has also become a Certified Agile Practitioner, been certified in ITIL Foundation, and been certified by the Air Force as a Lean, Six Sigma Black Belt. He can be contacted via Linked at https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg767/.
