Use ChatGPT for Undertaking Administration

The story of synthetic intelligence (AI) began in 1950, when computing pioneer Alan Turing proposed a check for machine intelligence. The Turing check, because it got here to be identified, targeted subsequent AI analysis on crossing the brink at which pc and human communication would change into indistinguishable. Quick-forward seven a long time, and machines have handed the Turing check, maybe even rendering it obsolete by their speedy growth. AI is revolutionizing all industries, and venture administration is not any exception.

The most popular AI tool is one which additionally guarantees transformative outcomes for venture managers: ChatGPT. It’s an instance of generative AI (Gen AI), which refers to a subset of AI applied sciences that may generate content material, concepts, or information that’s novel but sensible. Inside two months of its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly users, setting a report on the time because the fastest-growing person base in historical past.

For venture managers, ChatGPT is a strong assistant able to creating drafts of assembly agendas, venture charters, threat registers, and different venture artifacts. It will possibly summarize textual content, together with PDFs, and analyze information to make suggestions. I’m assured that studying to harness Gen AI will change into knowledgeable necessity: In 2019, even earlier than ChatGPT swept into public view, Gartner predicted that AI would remove 80% of project management tasks within the subsequent decade.

The effectiveness of ChatGPT for venture administration hinges on how it’s used. On this article, I overview finest practices for crafting exact and clear prompts, stroll via particular use circumstances, take a look at rising options, and handle frequent pitfalls and issues.

Ideas of Efficient Prompting

Efficient prompting is essential for interacting with AI instruments like ChatGPT and requires a really structured strategy, particularly when drafting supplies for real-world tasks. The next are 5 parts of efficient prompt engineering:

  1. Establish your skilled context: Embrace particulars about your function, {industry}, venture intentions, and so forth. Instance: “As an skilled venture supervisor, I’m getting ready a venture plan for the event and deployment of a group app for volunteers who assist with the upkeep and enchancment of our native parks.”
  2. Present venture particulars: All the time specify duties, assets, and different venture particulars, being positive to explain the composition of your crew. Instance: “We have now a crew of three builders, a product supervisor, a tester, and a Scrum grasp to construct this app.”
  3. Be exact: If you happen to want an output to incorporate sure components, describe them clearly. Instance: “Create a venture plan with durations, assets, and dangers.”
  4. Make clear constraints: Make sure to define limiting elements like budgets, schedules, and out there assets. Instance: “Create a venture plan with not more than 100 duties.”
  5. Specify output format: The present model of ChatGPT can generate output in formatted textual content, together with tables. The DALL-E 3 extension can generate infographics, and the Knowledge Analyst extension creates charts and graphs. Be clear about which format you want. Instance: “Create an inventory of duties in a tabular format.”

Offering context and particulars every time could make prompts lengthy and troublesome to handle, however fortuitously, a shortcut is on the market. In 2023, OpenAI launched custom instructions so customers can add preferences and necessities that remove prolonged descriptions for every immediate. The directions are very efficient for the frequent use of ChatGPT for venture administration. (When creating prompts for a special context, merely specify to “ignore customized directions.”)

I like to recommend that venture managers embody the next particulars within the customized directions (at a minimal):

  1. Who you’re: Describe your skilled expertise, corresponding to your function and the forms of organizations and industries you’re employed in.
  2. The place you reside: Enter your common location and time zone. ChatGPT can then mechanically insert this info into venture paperwork.
  3. What tone ChatGPT ought to use: I’ve specified that I need ChatGPT to make use of a proper however pleasant tone. I additionally ask it to offer impartial responses and solutions and specify that opinions—slightly than statements of reality—have to be recognized as such.
  4. The way you need to be addressed: I ask that ChatGPT use my title as a result of this corresponds with a extra skilled tone.
ChatGPT custom instructions allow users to provide details, such as professional roles and experiences, and define response parameters.
ChatGPT customized directions enable customers to offer particulars and parameters to form how the instrument responds to requests. (OpenAI)

Pattern ChatGPT Prompts for Undertaking Administration

The forms of info ChatGPT can produce are limitless, however right here I stroll via a number of use circumstances for venture administration, beginning with a fundamental venture description after which asking for a collection of extra venture artifacts. Comply with alongside by copying and pasting the prompts sequentially into ChatGPT. When you’ve experimented with this generic venture, you may customise the prompts with particular particulars out of your real-world wants. At that time, keep in mind to finish your customized directions and comply with the prompting suggestions above.

Making a Pattern Enterprise Software program Undertaking

The start line for all venture administration content material technology with ChatGPT is similar: Ask it to explain your venture in accordance with its fundamental parameters. Within the instance immediate, I specify that I’m engaged on provide chain optimization software program for an enterprise firm. With out additional prompting, ChatGPT will create a common venture description, which can embody goals, scope, and different particulars. Additional prompting can appropriate errors.

Immediate: Give me a particular instance of a provide chain optimization software program venture for an enterprise group.

A ChatGPT-generated description of an enterprise software project shows objectives, scope, methodology, and technologies needed.
(OpenAI)

The data ChatGPT produces from this straightforward introductory immediate will be surprisingly helpful. Its perspective could even shock you, figuring out points you can have missed when drafting the fabric independently. Additionally, once you’re engaged on a customized venture, this step gives the chance to make clear venture particulars inside ChatGPT, in order that the following prompts run extra easily.

Selecting a Methodology for Your Undertaking

As soon as ChatGPT has created a common venture description that captures key traits of the venture, ask it to counsel a venture administration methodology or framework. This step guides ChatGPT in producing applicable artifacts for subsequent steps. Additionally, ChatGPT will usually justify its advice by figuring out options of the venture that align with the methodology and should even present implementation suggestions.

Immediate: Are you able to counsel the correct venture administration methodology for this venture?

A ChatGPT-generated recommendation for a project management methodology, along with justifications and implementation tips.
(OpenAI)

If you happen to intend to comply with a particular venture administration methodology for a venture, it’s also possible to ask ChatGPT to guage whether or not it’s an excellent match for the venture. It could determine benefits together with challenges and dangers, serving to you preempt issues from stakeholders or in any other case reinforce confidence within the choice.

Creating Drafts of Undertaking Artifacts

The facility of ChatGPT as a drafting assistant turns into evident once you ask it to create particular venture artifacts, corresponding to a venture constitution, venture plan, threat register, or stakeholder register. These are supplies that venture managers usually create, and since they typically comply with a comparatively customary components, ChatGPT is nice at mapping out the important thing sections and inputting placeholder textual content.

In reality, in case you’ve already offered context about your self, the crew, and the venture on the outset—being aware of privacy or data security concerns—ChatGPT will enter these particulars. In my instance prompts under, ChatGPT is aware of my title and function, and it suggests different crew roles which may be concerned within the venture.

Immediate: Please create an in depth venture constitution for this venture.

A ChatGPT-generated project charter shows the project title, sponsor, project manager, and date of issue.
(OpenAI)

ChatGPT generates a venture constitution utilizing a well-structured template and can prepopulate it with venture information, together with solutions for venture deliverables, milestones, dangers, and so forth.

Immediate: Please create a threat register for this venture.

A ChatGPT-generated risk register with columns for risk ID, description, likelihood, impact, risk score, mitigation strategies, and assignee.
(OpenAI)

The chance register features a threat rating (calculated from the assessed probability and affect), proposed mitigation methods, and advisable assignees, offering a complete {industry} perspective.

Immediate: Please create a venture plan with 50 detailed duties, assets, length, dangers, and dependencies. The venture will begin on January 1, 2024, and we have now a crew of 4 builders, one tester, and one enterprise analyst/product proprietor. Please present the response in a tabular kind.

A ChatGPT-generated project plan in table format with columns for task number, description, assignee, duration, risks, and dependencies.
(OpenAI)

This straightforward venture plan will be imported right into a spreadsheet or Microsoft Undertaking. Whereas lots of the duties will be labored on concurrently, ChatGPT listed them sequentially, which isn’t ultimate. Nonetheless, the desired durations and dangers are very worthwhile.

Immediate: Please create a stakeholder register for this venture.

A ChatGPT-generated stakeholder register shows columns for stakeholder ID, name, role, interests, influence, and engagement strategy.
(OpenAI)

ChatGPT will populate the stakeholder register primarily based on its information of the venture. Once you present particular details about the crew construction for a real-world venture, the register is usually fairly correct and should even embody fields for contact info.

None of those outputs ought to be considered as something apart from a draft, but after I’ve used related prompts for real-world tasks, I’ve discovered the outcomes work surprisingly nicely for a place to begin. In fact, the outputs have to be reviewed and edited: Particulars might be incorrect; info could also be lacking. But on condition that the outcomes will be attained in mere seconds or minutes (permitting time for immediate revision), the instrument gives indeniable time-saving advantages for preliminary drafting.

There are a number of methods to share the artifacts generated by ChatGPT and combine them into a company’s present processes. A method is to export information from the Settings menu by deciding on Knowledge Controls and Export Knowledge. The second manner is to share the hyperlink from the primary chat display screen. Within the high proper nook, click on Share and Copy Hyperlink to open it in a brand new browser.

Superior ChatGPT Use Instances and Choices

Extra superior venture administration outputs are attainable with GPT-4, which is at present out there solely with premium plans. I like to recommend that each one venture managers use premium accounts, as these variations supply many extensions, together with real-time Internet access and the flexibility to course of and create photographs, textual content, and audio recordsdata. It additionally gives plugins to assist combine ChatGPT output with present processes and instruments.

Along with utilizing GPT-4 to draft venture artifacts primarily based on easy textual content prompts, venture managers can add a variety of file varieties, corresponding to PDFs, spreadsheets, slide displays, and audio or video recordsdata, both by dragging them into the chat window or utilizing the file browser accessible by way of the @ icon within the immediate. ChatGPT can analyze these paperwork to generate new content material or insights primarily based on the information and data they include.

Creating Assembly Summaries for Video Calls

One particularly time-saving process for ChatGPT entails creating assembly summaries for video calls or different recorded conversations. GPT-4 can course of video recordsdata, though I’ve discovered that inputting the textual content transcription from video calls extra rapidly produces a extra correct abstract with fewer system errors. Zoom and different video-call packages can produce transcriptions of recorded calls, though venture managers could need to discover extra transcription instruments for extra superior options. As soon as the transcript is prepared, add the file to ChatGPT or paste the transcript straight into the immediate discipline, then ask ChatGPT to create a abstract.

Though ChatGPT’s assembly abstract will must be reviewed for accuracy, the outcomes are spectacular, particularly given how instantaneously they seem. The subsequent model of ChatGPT guarantees improved capabilities for video processing.

Analyzing Spreadsheets

Undertaking managers may also add spreadsheets into GPT-4 and ask it to create charts and graphs. Present variations of the instrument can not generate Gantt charts and different Waterfall- and Agile-specific metrics and studies, however I think it will change over the subsequent few months.

Extra prompting could also be required to make labels on the chart or graph show appropriately. You’ll be able to present directions for the font measurement, orientation, and whether or not traces or arrows are wanted. You’ll be able to even specify colours for charts by together with hex or RGB shade codes within the immediate. Working with totally different organizations, I have a tendency to repeat these codes from their branding fashion guides.

Immediate: Create a pie chart of open points by division utilizing the related colours #204ECF, #03CC83, #262D3D, #FFFFFF.

A ChatGPT-generated pie chart in custom colors shows the percentages of Jira issues by department.
(OpenAI)

Utilizing ChatGPT Plugins to Create Slides and Extra

The advantages of utilizing ChatGPT for venture administration broaden additional with plugins, which provide a viable resolution for integrating Gen AI capabilities with a company’s present methods and processes. Among the many quite a few plugins out there, Zapier launched a powerful tool permitting customers to attach ChatGPT with different functions, corresponding to these in Google Workspace.

One significantly time-saving use of integrations like that is creating Google Slides with ChatGPT. Utilizing a Zapier integration (or different plugins), you may add a venture description as textual content or a PDF. Then you may ask ChatGPT to summarize the doc and convert the abstract right into a slide presentation. It may be useful to offer extra design parameters, corresponding to whether or not the presentation ought to use bullet factors or different particular textual content codecs. The standard of the generated slides has improved considerably over the previous few months.

Plugins are additionally out there for venture administration software program corresponding to Jira. This plugin allows the direct addition of ChatGPT-generated person tales into Jira, which might save important time. ChatGPT can craft tales full with attributes like acceptance standards and epics. Customers have the flexibleness to decide on the precise venture inside their Jira occasion to which the tales ought to be added. Nonetheless, all the time be cautious concerning information privateness and safety when utilizing plugins and overview phrases and situations.

Utilizing Customized GPTs

In late 2023, OpenAI made it attainable for customers to go a step past plugins by creating custom instances of ChatGPT. These customized cases, referred to as GPTs, lengthen the performance of ChatGPT by enabling entry to exterior information and providers. In early 2024, the corporate introduced a brand new GPT Store the place customers can obtain GPTs constructed by third-party builders, ushering in a surge of recent capabilities. (By the point the shop launched, particular person customers had already created greater than 3 million GPTs, illustrating the large reputation and utility of this tradition possibility.)

Specialised GPTs designed for venture administration are very promising. Notably, the Undertaking Administration Institute (PMI) launched a instrument referred to as PMI Infinity. This AI assistant stands out as a complete search engine for PMI’s whole physique of information.

Undertaking managers may also create their own GPTs. This may be completed with out coding by offering customized directions and particular information. GPTs can incorporate Zapier integrations to mechanically faucet into present workflows for doing issues like including tales to Jira or sending emails. These exterior integrations are generally known as actions. When creating new GPTs for public use, make sure you add your public GPT profile info, together with your web site, within the settings, permitting you to attach along with your customers.

Pitfalls of AI

Regardless of the efficiencies supplied by ChatGPT, venture administration professionals should pay attention to issues that may happen with AI. Lots of the points are inherent to how AI fashions are educated, which makes it particularly essential for finish customers to take needed precautions and perceive when the instruments should not suited to their wants. As a rule, all ChatGPT-generated content material ought to all the time be fact-checked and handled as a draft.

Bear in mind that AI fashions can produce outputs which can be irrelevant, off matter, or not aligned with the supposed function. AI fashions may also produce biased or discriminatory outcomes on account of biases within the materials used to coach the mannequin, and generate incorrect or nonsensical info, generally known as hallucinations. An instance of AI hallucinations made the information in 2023 when an legal professional in New York Metropolis used ChatGPT to conduct authorized analysis and submitted briefs citing nonexistent court precedents the instrument had generated. The efficiency of AI fashions may also shift over time, steadily deviating from the unique coaching goals or expectations. This AI drift can happen on account of varied elements corresponding to adjustments within the underlying information, evolving real-world situations, or the buildup of biases.

Undertaking managers must also be vigilant about privateness and safety issues, particularly when engaged on something involving private or confidential information. It’s essential to learn all of the superb print concerning data privacy in AI instruments and make sure the instruments adjust to information safety legal guidelines and organizational necessities. In some industries, like healthcare, the one possibility is to create non-public AI fashions, by which the information stays inside the corporate.

AI fashions additionally lack transparency, making it troublesome to hint and clarify the AI’s reasoning, resulting in issues about accountability. For example, AI could generate outputs considerably much like copyrighted supplies with out authorization from the copyright holders. Such infringement raises authorized and moral issues, significantly with the rising functionality of AI to supply refined and original-seeming works derived from present copyrighted content material. In December 2023, The New York Instances sued OpenAI and Microsoft for utilizing its information to coach giant language fashions without cost and promoting the outcomes at a revenue. Within the subsequent few years, new rules will seemingly handle copyright infringement, information privateness, Gen AI ethics, and accountability.

Advancing With Gen AI

ChatGPT and different Gen AI instruments supply capabilities that may assist venture managers be extra environment friendly with day-to-day duties. The facility of the instruments guarantees to enhance dramatically and rapidly, with specialised capabilities coming within the type of industry-specific assistants and add-ons. I’m particularly excited to see how Microsoft and Jira will use AI to make venture administration extra highly effective.

Because the AI transformation continues, becoming a member of digital transformation and Agile transformation as industry-changing traits, I’m sure these instruments will change into a venture administration necessity. Undertaking managers ought to discover ways to run AI tasks and find out how to combine the instruments into present workflows. I like to recommend trying into coaching alternatives to construct extra AI experience. PMI gives knowledgeable growth course referred to as Generative AI Overview for Project Managers that could be a mixture of idea and interactive actions.

Undertaking managers must also sustain with AI developments through the use of quite a lot of Gen AI instruments. Along with ChatGPT, experiment with Gemini, Bind, and Claude. Check their capabilities and search for alternatives to combine the outputs of AI fashions along with your group’s processes and instruments whereas by no means dropping sight of the constraints and pitfalls of AI. Your information and adoption of Gen AI will undoubtedly deliver long-term worth to your groups and tasks.