By: Joshua Finley

The AI market has surged as technology transforms how consumers and businesses operate. AI increases business efficiency, enhances data processing and saves businesses time, while models like ChatGPT answer consumer queries and generate content. AI image creators produce visuals for everything from book covers to PowerPoint presentations. It’s a technology that is touching every facet of human life.

The AI market grew to over 184 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, up nearly 50 billion from 2023. This growth is expected to continue, reaching 826 billion U.S. dollars by 2030.

Despite concerns about job security, PMI Mile Hi Chapter President and innovation leader James McCoy sees AI as a game-changer for project management. “Project management is not just a framework; it’s a strategic advantage. AI can add tremendous value by optimizing project processes,” says McCoy.

“Project management is not only a framework, it’s a strategic advantage that empowers organizations to achieve their goals efficiently and effectively, and AI has the potential to add tremendous value to the process in optimizing the project management field,” says McCoy.

Numerous Questions

McCoy believes the discipline in crafting AI prompts can not only provide answers to project management questions but also inspire deeper thinking within PM teams.

“AI certifications are now essential for PMOs wanting to maximize the benefits of widely available AI models. In a recent project meeting, a team member asked, ‘Why is it so hard to say no to clients when they request things out of scope or delay projects?’ I thought it was a great question, so I asked ChatGPT for ten ways to say no to clients.”

The results sparked discussion and helped build a structured approach to managing client objections that often derail project rollouts.

McCoy is a recent convert to AI functionality, but he is convinced that it will prove incredibly disruptive to how project management tasks are currently handled. 

“I found the technology incredibly impressive. The certification classes taught me how to be clear with prompts, be specific, and provide context. The AI’s answers were useful, but more valuable was the discipline behind crafting effective prompts. You must be concise, reduce ambiguity, and learn different ways to ask the same questions. It makes you think and emphasizes the need for a clear, thoughtful approach. AI teaches a lot about the importance of clear communication in business.”

Efficiency and AI/Human Partnership 

McCoy is optimistic about AI’s potential to boost efficiency, particularly in handling repetitive tasks like report generation, document analysis with diverse data types, summarizing meeting notes, and performing calculations. Project managers can establish standardized prompts to be used across various projects, ensuring consistency and reducing the need for senior leaders like McCoy to double-check the outcomes.

However, according to recent Project Management Institute research, AI alone cannot manage complex, mission-critical project tasks. Project professionals can use GenAI tools to enhance their initial analysis, produce draft versions for expert review, and progressively refine the output for specific tasks. Still, AI-generated results often require further refinement, testing, and supplementary analysis—and for critical areas like risk analysis, the expertise of a seasoned project leader remains indispensable.

According to McCoy, this is where upskilling is so essential. 

“AI is here to stay, for all the worries about job losses, the genie is out of the bottle. However, it’s becoming clear that AI is not going to cause enormous damage to people’s careers. It’s a tool like any other. Yes, it is tremendously powerful, but human beings still have the upper hand when it comes to creative problem-solving and real-world applications. 

“If a business takes a considered approach to AI, especially in the project management field it can increase efficiency, and it can make people’s jobs far more rewarding, however, employees and even specialists need to make an effort to get to know its potential and limitations.”

McCoy also stresses the need for refining prompts, and how that can lead to new ways of thinking for project managers.

“Once you start inputting prompts you are presented with responses that almost inevitably aren’t exactly what you want. So you refine the prompt and refine it again until you get what you’re looking for. AI isn’t creative, although it can mimic creativity, but it can lead to thinking about the process that you are employing to deal with project-specific challenges.

“If AI can’t make sense of the information you’re providing, and you’re struggling to get the output you need, it might be time to have a look at the strategy that you’re employing – and that sometimes isn’t a bad thing.”

Photo Courtesy: James McCoy

The Long Term

According to Price Waterhouse Cooper, AI could add as much as $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, surpassing the combined current economic output of China and India. Of this total, $6.6 trillion is expected to stem from productivity gains, while $9.1 trillion will likely result from increased consumer demand and related effects.

Project management is crucial to an organization’s growth and competitiveness, ensuring projects are delivered on time, on budget, and within scope. However, when done correctly, it can be highly labor-intensive. AI is set to transform project management, offering significant value.

McCoy believes that adopting AI will separate thriving companies from those that struggle under competitive pressure, with the latter possibly falling victim to their reluctance to embrace the technology.

“The business case for AI adoption, especially in the project management field is becoming stronger and stronger. The promise of strategically sound project management services being delivered faster and more effectively than ever before is a call to companies to get on board. Once that happens, and it’s happening now, the technology is going to mature and it’s almost inevitable that new flavors of AI, focused on project management are going to become available. You can’t turn back the tide, so project managers had better learn how to swim.”

To learn more about James McCoy and his unique, proven approach to project management and leadership visit his LinkedIn page.

Published by: Martin De Juan