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?
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.
Almost all enterprises are moving to prepare for an AI-first economy. Roles previously valued may be considered 'dead' in such circumstances but like all Industrial Revolutions, it is merely a reinvention for working with this new revolution. We are now seeing the demand for "Story-tellers" in Tech increase which is what such roles can now be re-invented as. The Human-in-the-loop aspect of AI makes human skills more valuable. Not less.
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!
This is really true. You have to be both knowledgeable and skilled in the use of GenAI and project management to know exactly what you want, how to get it done using GenAI and even how to use it. Saving Changes...
h1Prompt engineering will enhance project management skills but only to the extent creativity (human thought) is inputted to the prompt. Otherwise - if the same basic prompts are used, then similar response will result which does not provide for differentiation but resembles cookie cutter tendencies. /h1 Saving Changes...
Do you remember paperback encyclopedias? How long did it take to research and write a small report? THEN the PC evolved, and the arguments surrounding AI were the same arguments and fears about the Internet. I see the presentation comments on ethics as the primary line of defense against the misuse and bias of information. Managers must become managers to include project processes, psychosocial interrelationships, and rapidly evolving technology.
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Anonymous
h1The widespread adoption of prompt engineering will help PMs differentiate themselves and command higher value as this will help them get the tasks done faster without loosing control and focus on strategic issues/h1 Saving Changes...
Project environments that are early adopters of AI and provide a LLM sandbox for the project teams help the PMs and their teams give a head start in honing their prompt engineering skills.
In the short to medium term future, apart from project management competencies, prompt engineering skills can be a differentiator as a transferable skill alongside communication, business acumen and critical thinking, if accompanied by demonstrable impact in terms of productivity improvements and saved person-hours. Saving Changes...
shashikant parasharSr. Project Manager | Agile Practitioner.| IBM India Pvt. Ltd.Bangalore, Karnataka, India
h1It actually helps until we analyze the outcome of the prompt and validate the same before using it./h1 Saving Changes...
Leonard ByrdProject Manager| Consultant - Partially RetiredMansfield Center, Ct, United States
If you have ever put AI to a test you will understand why they suggest that you double check their directions. You can get AI to spin like a top because their responses are like a google search where they collect numerous responses and if the first doesn't suit you they have millions more. That is dangerous given the value of a PMs decision. AI is ok to compile numerous opinions but check the sources - if not creditable dismiss immediately Saving Changes...
I am skeptical of AI--I think it appeals because, on the surface, it offers an expedient, good-enough version of the work. I believe there is a value of muddling through the nuts and bolts of a project. Time will tell in what contexts the time saved by AI's 'good enough' outweighs this understanding. Saving Changes...
Shani SankarSenior Delivery Manager| iSteer Technologies LtdBangalore, Karnataka, India
I find prompt engineering is more to do with the personal quality. Whatever we try to automate or formulate, the primarily communication skill of a person is being detailed out. I doubt if this can be induced as a learning capability in project managers.
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