Resource Management, Resolved? Part 2 on A.I. and Project Management

It pains me to report that, once again, for about the twentieth time in the history of our research program, the number one challenge reported by participants in The State of the PMO 2022 is Resource Management. Not only that, but four out of the five top challenges relate directly to various Resource Management ills: they paint a picture of organizations with conflicting priorities, not enough project managers, and employees that lack the right skills. Resource Management seems to be a permanent stumbling block for project-oriented organizations, even though each year, our research participants claim that improving it is a top priority.

Over the years, we’ve proposed some possible remedies to this persistent problem. We’ve pointed out that high-performing companies consistently train more people, for more sessions, on more advanced topics, addressing the challenge of personnel without the skills for the job. We’ve also noted that high performers are more likely than average to bring in contract resources to boost their game. Expert resources from outside the company often have the effect of raising the skill levels of in-house staff, so this strategy is a two-fer with lasting benefits. Finally, we have long advocated for centralizing project management talent under the umbrella of a PMO, and this structure finally seems to be taking hold. In the 2022 study, only 18% of survey respondents were not using this strategy. And it was a key feature of the high performing PMOs.

Yet even high performers report that resource management is their main challenge.

Recently, it was suggested to me that better resource management would be resolved as a happy side effect of the incorporation of Artificial Intelligence into project and portfolio management software. One of the benefits promised—or, more accurately, dreamed of—by AI proponents is that project management practitioners, relieved of busywork and number crunching by their “Intelligent Assistants” within evolving PM and Portfolio management software, will be able to focus more on the human aspects of team building, human resource development, and stakeholder engagement. In  “A Study on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Project Management” the authors theorize that the benefits of having project managers more available to provide mentoring, guidance, and encouragement to the people on their teams could be wide-ranging and profound. They suggest that the ability to focus on the human side and the art of project management, while AI carries out the science, would have benefits not only for project managers, but for everyone in the organization, for project outcomes, and for the bottom line.

I certainly agree that when organizations focus on their people, they can achieve better outcomes—as well as become more human-scale places to work. Our 2021 research on how virtual project management helped organizations thrive during the pandemic clearly showed that high performers both maintained high standards for project management practice and took excellent care of their people, putting health and safety first as well as working hard to create a sense of community among remote workers. It took a human crisis to force many companies to focus on the ways human beings work best. I’m not sure merely adding AI to the mix will have the same kind of effect. Won’t poor people managers with more time on their hands merely make worse mistakes with their people?

Perhaps what is needed, in addition to automating the busywork of project management, is more attention to the interpersonal and resource management skills of project managers—especially those that aspire to lead teams, rise to the strategic level of the organization, and advise the executive level. Novel methods for problem-solving, better communication skills, and perhaps a healthy dose of training in areas like cultural anthropology and psychology would provide unhappy places to work with more hope than any app or gadget we are presently capable of devising.

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