Will the widespread adoption of prompt engineering commoditize project management skills, or can it help PMs differentiate themselves and command higher value?
Director, Learning Design & Development| PMIAsheville, NC, United States
Hi PMI Community! I’m Sarah Philbrick, and I work as a Product Manager at PMI with a focus on our learning offerings. As we go on this skill-building journey together, I’m excited to engage in meaningful conversations, explore trending topics, and learn from each other.
Reflecting on one such topic, GenAI and prompt engineering, I am interested to hear your perspective on commoditization vs. differentiation.
Will the widespread adoption of prompt engineering commoditize project management skills, or can it help PMs differentiate themselves and command higher value?
Silvia CastroCommercial Manager| GENPROSão Paulo, Sp, Brazil
May 24, 2024 4:18 PM
Replying to Esha Srivastava
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I have been using a few gen AI tools, specifically chatbots, data analytics tools to simplify my work in day-to-day PM role. They work great for prompts like summarization, comparison and some level of data mining, but there are many use case scenarios where one can't totally rely on the AI tool to get the final solution. For e.g. I tried mining a spreadsheet and convert certain texts into shorter characters required to visually represent my data into a line/bar chart. While the chatbot wasn't able to give me the final graph, it saved me several minutes in getting an excel formula with examples, that I was able to use to convert the big spreadsheet into more sensical data table, and moreover it gave me steps to quickly create the line chart that I eventually wanted. All that within 10min.
So, I see potential in increasing productivity!
Thanks for the contribution. We are beginning to deal with tis technology, we are learning to get the most out of it and training it to deliver increasingly more. Saving Changes...
Silvia CastroCommercial Manager| GENPROSão Paulo, Sp, Brazil
May 24, 2024 4:18 PM
Replying to Esha Srivastava
...
I have been using a few gen AI tools, specifically chatbots, data analytics tools to simplify my work in day-to-day PM role. They work great for prompts like summarization, comparison and some level of data mining, but there are many use case scenarios where one can't totally rely on the AI tool to get the final solution. For e.g. I tried mining a spreadsheet and convert certain texts into shorter characters required to visually represent my data into a line/bar chart. While the chatbot wasn't able to give me the final graph, it saved me several minutes in getting an excel formula with examples, that I was able to use to convert the big spreadsheet into more sensical data table, and moreover it gave me steps to quickly create the line chart that I eventually wanted. All that within 10min.
So, I see potential in increasing productivity!
Thanks for the contribution. We are beginning to deal with tis technology, we are learning to get the most out of it and training it to deliver increasingly more. Saving Changes...
Silvia CastroCommercial Manager| GENPROSão Paulo, Sp, Brazil
May 24, 2024 8:28 PM
Replying to George Freeman
...
Hi Sarah,
Prompt engineering finds its merits in the novelty of GenAI and the interim gap we find ourselves in, in which full-blown NLP-based instructions lack (for at least now) the structural instruction-set qualities provided by prompts.
Even now, “prompt engineering” is largely circumvented through GenAI’s evolved features that have realized native “prompt refinement” capabilities and through “prompt wizards and assistants” that provide the tooling one needs to get desired outputs.
Unfortunately, the hyperbole surrounding GenAI has created a unique and concerning economy whose currency finds its primary basis in fascination.
I recognize this is a strong statement, but I caution any professional from using a rapidly evolving, relatively immature, destination-unknown, and ethically unresolved “tool” as a personal key differentiator in the marketplace—a minority opinion.
George
That is a provocative thought. Saving Changes...
Silvia CastroCommercial Manager| GENPROSão Paulo, Sp, Brazil
May 24, 2024 8:28 PM
Replying to George Freeman
...
Hi Sarah,
Prompt engineering finds its merits in the novelty of GenAI and the interim gap we find ourselves in, in which full-blown NLP-based instructions lack (for at least now) the structural instruction-set qualities provided by prompts.
Even now, “prompt engineering” is largely circumvented through GenAI’s evolved features that have realized native “prompt refinement” capabilities and through “prompt wizards and assistants” that provide the tooling one needs to get desired outputs.
Unfortunately, the hyperbole surrounding GenAI has created a unique and concerning economy whose currency finds its primary basis in fascination.
I recognize this is a strong statement, but I caution any professional from using a rapidly evolving, relatively immature, destination-unknown, and ethically unresolved “tool” as a personal key differentiator in the marketplace—a minority opinion.
George
That is a provocative thought. Saving Changes...
Silvia CastroCommercial Manager| GENPROSão Paulo, Sp, Brazil
May 25, 2024 7:54 PM
Replying to Raman Chadha
...
I think any technology that can automate parts of the project management chain can commoditize project management skills once it becomes commonplace. GenAI could be the most powerful such technology that we have seen yet, at least in the recent past. That said, there will always be room to use it as an enabler for managing more complex tasks, e.g., tasks that involve more human to human interaction. We are only scratching the surface of how it can be used and for the foreseeable future, I think it can help differentiate Project Managers if they are open to embracing it and experimenting with it. More than prompt engineering, it will be about being creative in identifying new use cases that GenAI could solve.
We have to study, experiment, analyse and criticize results, collect lessons learned and use human intelligence to enhance AI to help human work. Saving Changes...
Silvia CastroCommercial Manager| GENPROSão Paulo, Sp, Brazil
Jul 09, 2024 2:55 PM
Replying to Olaitan Lasisi
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I strongly believe that the advent of Gen AI will not outrightly replaced the informed Project Managers but rather empower them to function optimally. Just keep up the pace of the technological evolutions and as Project Managers, we will always be relevant and adding value to our respective domains.
Totally agree Saving Changes...
Silvia CastroCommercial Manager| GENPROSão Paulo, Sp, Brazil
Jul 09, 2024 5:45 PM
Replying to Baba Mohamed CISSE
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The adoption of prompt engineering will give value in project management to those who have a good capacity to adapt in this disruptive world.
Agree with you Saving Changes...
Rajesh ShelmedaProject Manager| Tech Mahindra LtdBengaluru, Karnataka, India
I believe Prompt Engineering/AI can give a good head start while PMs go about accomplishing various tasks. Accountability can never be transferred to AI and hence, relevance of PMs who can leverage the power of AI vs the others who cannot do so will be something to look out for. Saving Changes...
Hi All,
Prompt engineering is the best tool to manage the ocean of AI information into a desired data.
It is always good to font _msthash="0" _mstmutation="1" _msttexthash="61724"adapt to new technologies to meet complex projects and situations/font Saving Changes...
Sonakshi SethiProject Coordinator| Rubico IT Pvt LtdDehradun, India
Hi everyone! I'm Sonakshi, a Technical Project Coordinator, and I’d like to share my perspective on this.
In my day-to-day role, I juggle multiple responsibilities, from managing timelines and coordinating teams to creating documentation and analyzing risks. Since I started using AI tools, especially for tasks like project documentation, summarization, and risk analysis, I've seen a noticeable boost in productivity and clarity.
I completely understand the concern that prompt engineering and AI might commoditize project management. However, I believe the opposite can be true if we actively adapt and stay current with evolving AI capabilities. Rather than replacing us, AI can become a powerful partner that enhances our value. The key is to embrace the change, learn how to use these tools effectively, and leverage them to make better, faster decisions.
In short, PMs who evolve with AI won’t be left behind; they’ll be the ones leading the way.
PMI Team Member
