As one of my goals this year, I would like to learn how to leverage Generative AI (GenAI) in my work as a project manager to assist with the various administrative tasks, such as note taking and status reporting. I have been reading up on AI and its impact on the project management field, and the consensus is that over the next five years as early as 2030, AI will manage approximately 80% of project management tasks via big data, machine learning (ML), and natural language processing. This has made me reflect on how my role as a project manager will evolve in the coming years. The following are a few examples that I am most interested in learning more about, including one that I have already started to try out – note taking!
I have spent countless hours taking meeting minutes throughout my career as a project manager. Drafting meeting minutes is entirely administrative but critical to ensure that key decisions and next steps are documented, so attendees walk away with a clear understanding on the overall meeting context and any key deliverables that may be due in the coming weeks. With the launch of the AI Companion in Zoom and Dana-Farber’s GPT4DFCI, I have been able to successfully leverage both tools in different ways to be more efficient in taking notes.
My Experience Using Zoom AI Companion:
• The Zoom meeting recap goes beyond just a meeting transcript and captures the main discussion points.
• The “Next Steps” section also identifies the person responsible for each deliverable and includes a date if it was specified during the meeting; otherwise, you can easily add the date later.
My Experience Using the Dana-Farber GPT4DFCI:
• If hosting a meeting from Teams, I turn on the meeting transcript feature at the start of the meeting. Once the meeting is finished, I upload the transcript to GPT4DFCI and ask it to create a meeting recap in bulleted format, including a ‘next steps’ section.
• Currently, the AI meeting recap feature in Teams is not available but may be in the future.
A final essential step is to check the AI-generated meeting recap for accuracy before sending it out. For the most part, the AI-generated meeting summary is accurate, and I do not need to make any major edits, which is excellent!
Another area where I spend countless hours is updating status reports, which are critical communication tools to ensure that various project stakeholders are up to speed on the overall project status. There are various products that have been recognized for their capabilities in AI-driven status reporting. The Project Management Institute (PMI) recently released “PMI Infinity” which is designed to support project managers in various tasks across all phases of a project, including status reporting. I will take time this year to explore its capabilities.
It would also be interesting to see how we can use the Dana-Farber GPT4DFCI to create a project baseline model by leveraging the vast amount of project data in the Information Services Project Portfolio (ISPP) and elsewhere at Dana-Farber to assist with project planning, risk assessment and resource allocation recommendations. Although we are not likely ready for this yet, it is an existing possibility for the future for sure!
The following are some examples of questions we could ask in the future:
• Show me projects that had a similar scope and what types of resources were allocated.
• Show me projects that had a similar dependency and how the project team managed them.
• Show me projects that had similar risks and what was the response plan.
Overall, I am enthusiastic about how AI will transform my role as project manager in the near future. I see this as a positive step toward enhancing efficiencies and greater success in our processes. AI will help us do our jobs more efficiently and encourage deeper, smarter thinking which is fantastic!
Mark your calendars for the Information Services PMO’s annual Project Management Symposium on Thursday, November 7th, where we will explore additional project-based Gen-AI use cases. More details about this event will be shared in the coming weeks.