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?
Great question which may pave the way of understanding the AI concept and the important point should be taken into the consideration that it will assisst the process of enhancement of promt engineering and the role of PM should be considered as a key role of conclusions, insights and final decision Saving Changes...
I don't think that commoditization of project management skills is likely, because adapting to context and tailoring for organizational environment are typical characteristics of human beings. Prompt engineering might help getting an advantage for expediting minor tasks or helping in the search for more efficient solutions. Saving Changes...
Denise KorubaDirector, Illustrations and Policy Filing| The Penn Mutual Life Insurance CompanyDoylestown, Pa, United States
I share the same opinion as most others here. Project managers must adapt their skills to this new technology in order to differentiate themselves, but I don't expect prompt engineering to entirely replace the need for human beings in this role. Saving Changes...
AI will not disappear professions in the near future, but it will make professionals who do not use AI obsolete. Definitely, in professions like PM, greater value can be added since the repetitive tasks of data extraction and information consolidation will be left to the AIs and more time will be achieved for the PM to analyze the information, make decisions and generate innovations than a AI alone cannot do. It will be an exponential growth of the profession. The secret will be how to handle this also confidentially to differentiate yourself from other PMs, other professions or other competing companies. Saving Changes...
William WilsonPrincipal Acquisition Program Manager (PAPM)| U.S. Department of the NavyVirginia, United States
I believe the widespread adoption of prompt engineering in Gen AI will allow PMs to increase their Gen AI knowledge, experience, and understanding leading to a level of differentiation that could enable them to command higher value. Commanding higher value will significantly depend on how well the PM has utilized Gen AI to drive business value for their stakeholders. Saving Changes...
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 your contribution Esha!! Saving Changes...
Generative AI is here to help project managers. We should not forget that it is also a tool and its capacity is to provide output based on the input we provide to it. So while prompting to any GenAI tool to get help for project management, it all depends how we are prompting. Are we providing enough perspective of our problem and validate the outcome it provides based on the prompt. Sometimes algorithms may generate misleading, false positive or very drastically different output than the expected one. for me it is like using any tool with human interaction and intelligence put on to validation before using into project management. Saving Changes...
Now AI promp has greatly improved the productivity of work. In addition to team members, project managers can also operate in the best way. As project managers, you need to keep up with the pace of technological developments and add value in their respective fields. Saving Changes...
The adoption of prompt engineering indeed holds immense potential in project management. In today's rapidly evolving world, the ability to quickly adapt and leverage new technologies is crucial. Those who can harness prompt engineering effectively will undoubtedly add significant value to their projects, ensuring they remain competitive and efficient
I agree with this assertion and believe that with prompt engineering PM's will explore and adopt additional skills that would enhance their capabilities and deepen their understanding of AI Saving Changes...
Vladimir Gonzalez BarbaDirector of PM/PMO| Organizacion Terpel S.A.Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia
For someone new to the use of AI tools, I believe that prompt engineering is a necessary transformative and powerful skill for project managers, enabling efficient use of AI to deliver project value. It allows for precise information extraction, automating routine tasks and saving significant time and effort. On the other hand, the concern about over-reliance on AI in project management often stems from the fear that critical thinking and human judgment might diminish. I think that's something worth keeping in mind and something I'm very interested in learning about. Saving Changes...
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