Episode 209 – Succeed with AI in Project Management: Strategies and Skills to Stay Ahead

In this episode, we explore the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on project management and how it’s transforming the profession. Oliver Yarbrough shares how project managers can leverage AI to enhance their skills and stay competitive in an evolving, AI-driven landscape. Hear about AI's impact on Agile teams, how SLMs and LLMs are revolutionizing data refinement, how to balance data security while leveraging AI, and how to treat AI as a key stakeholder in the evolving landscape of project management. Chapters 02:21 … Meet Oliver04:21 … What is AI?05:39 … Will AI Replace the PM?06:41 … Incorporating AI Tools08:45 … Finding the AI Capabilities09:44 … Skills and Knowledge Areas13:02 … AI and Data Analysis Challenges15:23 … ChatGPT and Data16:40 … Human in the Loop18:08 … Protecting Your Data20:14 … Contractors Using AI22:20 … Kevin and Kyle23:18 … Impact on Agile Team Performance26:22 … Fine Tuning and Refining29:05 … A Large Language Model (LLM)30:08 … Current Trends in AI32:21 … AI Component to PM Tools33:40 … Streamlining Workflow with AI39:36 … Future Evolutions of AI43:17 … Contact Oliver44:58 … Closing OLIVER YARBROUGH:  AI acts as a stakeholder on our projects, and we should treat it like we treat any other stakeholder.  That’s very important.  Initially, I used to say treat it like it’s a piece of software tool.  But with the new advents of these AI agents and AI assistants and all these other things, you really do need to treat it like a true stakeholder. WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to another episode of Manage This. where we dive deep into the latest trends, insights, and strategies in project management.  This is the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m Wendy Grounds, and with me in the studio is Bill Yates.  And in the studio today we have an incredible guest who is sure to enlighten, inspire, and, I think for me, educate a lot. Joining us is Oliver Yarbrough.  He’s a PMP, a renowned author, speaker, and trainer with a knack for combining hands-on real-world experience with project management fundamentals.  His impressive career includes positions with Fortune 500 companies like Lucent Technologies, Staples, and Sprint, as well as successful business ventures of his own. Currently, Oliver is an active member of PMI, where he shares his extensive knowledge on adapting to AI, deriving value from data, and recognizing AI trends in project management.  He has some LinkedIn courses which we’ve taken a look at.  They cover everything from leveraging AI in project management to the importance of human strengths in an AI-driven world. BILL YATES:  As Wendy is saying, we’re going to explore a topic that, I mean, if you connect to the news, if you connect to the Internet in any way, probably one of the top trending topics is AI, or artificial intelligence.  We’re going to dive deep into that with Oliver, and we’re going to look at it from a specific lens, and that is from the perspective of the project manager.  How does this impact me?  How does this impact my job and my future?  Oliver is going to share some insights with us.  He’ll help us understand how to stay relevant.  What are some strengths from AI that we can harness?  What are some things that we cannot fear?  So, Oliver is here to open our minds. WENDY GROUNDS:  Yup, so get ready as we welcome Oliver.  Hi, Oliver.  Welcome to Manage This. OLIVER YARBROUGH:  Yes, great.  Glad to be here. Meet Oliver WENDY GROUNDS:  Oliver, why don’t you tell us how you got into artificial intelligence?  How you took that path? OLIVER YARBROUGH:  Well, I sort of fell into it backwards.  So, I did not start off as an AI person.  I’ve always been a Curious George.  I’ve always been poking my head in, like, “What’s going on here?  What’s going on there?”  But, you know, I have a project management background.  So, I was doing PMP exam prep.  I was training people.  And that’s how I got in touch like with you guys.