The report “First Movers’ Advantage: The Immediate Benefits of Adopting Generative AI for Project Management” surveyed 500 project professionals from around the globe, all using GenAI in their project work.

Organisations that encourage GenAI adoption see an increased use of GenAI among project professionals, setting the stage for transformative and positive outcomes, including: Trailblazers are more productive (93% of trailblazers versus 58% of low adopters or “explorers”), elevating their problem-solving (89% vs. 46%), and more effective (88% vs. 50%) by using GenAI.

High adopters are strengthening their interpersonal skills – which PMI calls “power skills.”

With GenAI, they are boosting collaboration (83% of trailblazers versus 32% of explorers) and creativity (84% vs. 44%).

Using GenAI, high adopters are seeing other project improvements, including project scope (87% trailblazers versus 34% explorers), scheduling (85% vs. 46%), cost (85% vs. 42%) and quality management (91% vs. 40%).

A study by Microsoft and LinkedIn shows that the use of GenAI doubled in the last few months of 2023, with 75% of knowledge workers using it, a trend PMI has seen explode in its nearly one-million-member community of project professionals.

 “Our research shows that GenAI trailblazers know how to maximise adoption to elevate their performance, navigate complex work, and usher in GenAI across their teams. They’re standing out from their peers for their innovative leadership,” said Pierre Le Manh, president & chief executive officer of PMI. “We want to ensure project professionals who haven’t yet added this technology to their toolbox can quickly get up to speed and benefit from GenAI given its exponential growth.”

Project professionals leading GenAI adoption are already building strategic advantages over those still in the initial stages:  Trailblazers are already mastering the critical skill of prompt engineering, the key to unlocking the full potential of GenAI.

Trailblazers stand out because they use GenAI for more complex tasks, such as data analysis, planning, and risk management.

These high adopters are three times more likely to strengthen their skills with GenAI when compared with explorers (36% vs. 12%). High adopters also recognise the importance of actively advocating for organisational adoption.

“GenAI is transforming every industry, which will create more opportunities for project professionals because they will help organisations implement this disruptive technology,” said Le Manh. “A key insight from the report is that it’s much harder to accelerate adoption without organisational support. Trailblazers are ten times more likely to work for organisations that empower them to use GenAI. It’s these forward-thinking organisations and their trailblazing project professionals that are seizing this moment and ready to lead the GenAI revolution.”

 Developing GenAI Resources with Project Professionals in Mind

As the leading authority in project management, PMI has a unique view into a global community of nearly one million knowledge workers.

This community has enthusiastically embraced both PMI Infinity, a GenAI tool developed by PMI, and training offered by PMI.

Together, PMI and its members are elevating the profession’s skills. In this unique moment in time, those professionals who are actively experimenting with GenAI are sharing their results with their fellow project professionals in the PMI community.

PMI is poised to launch a series of GenAI prompts, specific to a variety of industries and use cases, as an additional resource for project professionals.

Research has shown that effective prompt engineering helps yield stronger quality answers and a better overall GenAI experience.

Providing a starting point and bridging the gap between trailblazers and explorers, PMI is introducing a Prompt Library to PMI Infinity.

Project professionals can use PMI Infinity TM as an on-the-job partner that delivers interactive and detailed responses designed for project work.

The new curated repository of prompts, already vetted by the PMI community, will help users level up projects by providing an accessible entry point for developing precise prompts to support their day-to-day integration of AI into their workflow.

====

Project Management Institute (PMI), the world’s leading association for project professionals and changemakers released its “Pulse of the Profession 2023” – a report that identifies key trends in project management based on findings from PMI’s global survey of 3,500 project, program and portfolio managers.​

Across the 3,500 project professionals surveyed, regardless of region, industry, years of experience, leadership level, or Project Management Professional (PMP) certification status, there was a consensus around the most critical power skills: communication, problem-solving, collaborative leadership, and strategic thinking.

As noted in the PMI Talent Triangle, power skills are a critical skill set for project professionals to navigate the changing world of work and embrace smarter ways of working. Organisations sufficiently tapping into power skills, in addition to technical skills and business acumen, can expect to be better at handling complex project challenges, market changes, technological adoptions, and socioeconomic pressures.

The survey found that organisations placing a high priority on power skills tend to perform better against multiple key drivers of success. 72 per cent of their projects successfully met business goals, only 28 percent of their projects experienced scope creep, and they experienced less budget loss (17 percent) when a project failed.

In addition, organisations prioritising power skills are approximately three times more likely to report high benefits realisation management percent maturity, which is the number one key driver of success for projects identified in the research. Furthermore, they are two times more likely to report high project management maturity, and approximately three times more likely to report high organisational agility.

And while nine out of ten project professionals agree that power skills help them work smarter, organisations face challenges in prioritising the development of power skills. In fact, the report cites cost as the number one barrier to developing power skills, followed by a lack of perceived value. Furthermore, project professionals said they spend 46 percent of their professional development hours on technical skills and only 29 per cent on power skills.

“Our organisation is committed to empowering project professionals to develop the most robust set of skills to keep pace and create impact,” said Pierre Le Manh, President and Chief Executive Officer of PMI. “Technical skills and business acumen will always be important in project management, but this research shows that to drive the best project outcomes possible, organisations and project leaders must prioritise the development of power skills, too.”

A total of 3,492 project professionals representing a range of industries and regions, including North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, China, Europe, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Asia Pacific, and Sub-Saharan Africa were surveyed for the creation of this report. The report was supplemented with 12 in-depth interviews with project management experts spanning a range of industries and regions.

More about Project Management Institute

Project Management Institute (PMI) is the leading professional organisation for project management and the authority for a growing global community of millions of project professionals and individuals who use project management skills. Collectively, these professionals and “change makers” consistently create better outcomes for businesses, communities and society worldwide.

PMI empowers people to make ideas a reality. Through global advocacy, networking, collaboration, research, and education, PMI prepares organisations and individuals at every stage of their career journey to work smarter so they can drive success in a world of change.

Building on a proud legacy dating to 1969, PMI is a not-for-profit, for-purpose organisation working in nearly every country around the world to advance careers, strengthen organisational success, and enable project professionals and change makers with new skills and ways of working to maximise their impact.

PMI offerings include globally recognised standards, certifications, online courses, thought leadership, tools, digital publications, and communities.