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?
Wesam AllabadyProject Manager| Care and Planning for Hospitals Co.LtdAr Riyad, Saudi Arabia
Thank you, Sarah — and honestly? I don’t know exactly either.
I go back and forth on this. Some days I use ChatGPT to draft a project update and think 'wow, this saves me an hour.' Other days I ask it something simple and it gives me total nonsense, and I remember: it doesn't really understand people.
Here’s what I keep coming back to, though: No AI has ever sat with me during a difficult conversation with a client. No AI has ever looked at my tired team and known when to push and when to back off.
So maybe prompt engineering won't replace good PMs — but it will make lazy PMs very visible.
That’s just my feeling. I could be wrong. Would love to hear what others are actually seeing in their day-to-day work.
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Wesam AllabadyProject Manager| Care and Planning for Hospitals Co.LtdAr Riyad, Saudi Arabia
Thank you, Sarah — and honestly? I don’t know exactly either. I go back and forth on this. Some days I use ChatGPT to draft a project update and think 'wow, this saves me an hour.' Other days I ask it something simple and it gives me total nonsense, and I remember: it doesn't really understand people. Here’s what I keep coming back to, though: No AI has ever sat with me during a difficult conversation with a client. No AI has ever looked at my tired team and known when to push and when to back off. So maybe prompt engineering won't replace good PMs — but it will make lazy PMs very visible. That’s just my feeling. I could be wrong. Would love to hear what others are actually seeing in their day-to-day work. Saving Changes...
With the new generation of generative AI portfolio/program/project manager and business analyst role "are dead" at least in the way they were originally defined. I think a good source to understand that are the two courses on generative AI delivered for free by the PMI, mainly if you see the 3 layer model.
Agreed-- the way that we think about project management and dozens of other roles becomes outdated in the face of generative AI. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing for our roles and responsibilities to evolve over time, especially as we all strive to keep up with technological advancements and want to further our knowledge and careers, but it is a reality that we need to face. The most interesting piece to me is that, while AI has been around for many years, it's taking off now and the parameters around its usage and expectations for safety, security, etc. seem to be poorly formed and vary greatly between individuals, organizations, fields, and so on. I'm curious to see how these expectations become norms - or if that's even possible with something as rapidly evolving as AI.
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Anonymous
h1I believe it can help PMs differentiate themselves and command higher value./h1 Saving Changes...
I think this is a great question and something on many people's minds across many professional fields. AI literacy is a skill that is quickly becoming a necessity if we want to avoid AI slop (both in the recreational space and in the office). Without responsible prompting and human oversight, this is what we will inevitably encounter. Substandard AI-human communication may even teach the AI models that sloppiness is okay. Thus, I'm grateful the PMI is doing its part to increase AI literacy and empower PMPs to become more efficient and high-performing. Saving Changes...
Mohammed Nabil AhmedIT Director KAP1| Khatib & AlamiRiyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
the prompt engineering is good for increasing value to PM but have to be carefull no to rely too much on it, PM´s have to review always and give its own apprecciation of topics, it will be noted if it is a Commoditization and will impact bad on the reliability, prestige, seriousness, serios intangibles, also the capability of PM will be deminished Saving Changes...
hello Definetely it will, but PM must be aware and show all the staff that in the end this is a tool and does not replaces cognition, thinking, elaboration or team work. and everybody else must be conscious of that too Saving Changes...
Sanja SabljicDirector of TechOps| LANACO d.o.o.Banja Luka, Outside Of Us And Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina
I have always thought that PM "job" is much more than a job - it is a skill, way of thinking and appliance of all technical skills and tools, because we work with people. And AI and all that help we can get with it, would be very usefull and we should use it, but with common sense and jugdment, as in every aspects of our lives and jobs.
Artificial intelligence just cover one part of intelligence, the cognitive one. But understanding, contextualizing, being able to read the room, accounting for emotion, all of this is also intelligence and so far is not covered by artificial intelligence.
"Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious and immature."
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