The Promise of PMbots
- Anita Dhir, PMP®
An Opportunity or Threat?
Are you excited or fearful that you could have a PMbot as an assistant or as a colleague in the near future? It is very possible that your organization may decide to use a PMBot to run simple projects and assign a human PM to work on more complex projects. It is also possible that organizations may use a hybrid approach. In this scenario, PMs will be supported by PMbots that will manage some of the PM functions. This is a great opportunity. Other project managers may perceive this as a threat as it may result in losing their jobs to PMBOTs.
Current Situation
Projects most often fail due to a breakdown in communication. Factors that contribute to this are:
- Communication barriers that exist due to organizational silos
- PMs frequently display emotional decision making thus resulting in inconsistent decisions
- Lack of consistent follow up
- Organizational risks such as lack of governance
Given the rise of the Internet of Things (IOT), projects are becoming more complex from the technical perspective. Further, the project managers must also gather, analyze, and use huge volumes of project data to make prudent and critical project decisions as well as provide detailed insights for accurate project status and forecast. This limits the project manager's performance.
There is something on the horizon to help the overwhelmed project manager.
HELP IS ON THE WAY
PMBots
A possible collaborative approach between PMbots and project managers is looming in the near future. The PMbots can be efficient and can perform project management analytics (using statistical tools, methods, and algorithms) at a lower cost. This will free up the project managers to focus on non-repetitive and difficult to automate tasks, primarily communication among stakeholders and team management responsibilities.
The biggest promise that the PMbots offer are:
- Consistent & Seamless Communications
- Improved PM Effectiveness
- Improved governance / Knowledge Transfer
- Unbiased, transparent, and timely Decision Making
- Consistent PM Reporting and forecasting
- Efficient and improved resource estimates, allocations, and utilization
This will eliminate the top reasons, as stated above, for project failure namely, inadequate communication. Thus this will be a boon for the future project managers to help them automate the collection and analysis of project information.
What is a PMbot?
Technically a PMbot is an assistant to a PM, a simple PMbot performs repetitive tasks for the project manager, thus freeing up PM time. A simple PMbot is in the form of robotic process automation (RPA). It is the application of technology that allows computer software or a robot to be configured to capture and interpret available data for processing, manipulating, triggering responses, and communicating with other digital systems.
At a more complex level, a pmbot uses AI machine learning, data analytics, blockchain, and natural language processing (use human-like intelligence) to interpret raw data and learn to make more complex decisions, similar to a project manager.
What does the PMbot do for project managers?
The premise for PMbots is that they provide and support project managers in making better decisions to create more stable projects that stay on track and deliver on time and on budget. The overall intent is that these pmbots can help reduce PM related costs and can reveal insights from huge amounts of unstructured data as well as learn and become efficient in the current PM practices.
Potential PMbot capabilities / Benefits are:
- Planning:
- Performing risk assessments and planning risk resolution strategies
- Estimating project schedules and costs
- Creating resource management plans (resource allocation and utilization and task management)
- Monitoring & Controlling
- Performing daily/repetitive tasks diligently and efficiently and can be also capable of updating and alerting the project stakeholders about discrepancies or issues
- Based on collected data, AI based PMbot can warn project managers to take preventive actions regarding heavy resource loads, unexpectedly low outputs, over-capacity or under-capacity. These systems can also give advice about when and in which skills a particular employee should be trained
- Performing status and performance analysis and generating relevant communication and alerts based on forecasts to get projects back on track.
- Predict Defects
Conclusion:
PMBots can tackle wider macro-project management related issues that go beyond the basic business goals and work towards the benefit of all. For some project managers this means retraining and becoming comfortable with their new project management resource, a PMBOT. Given the many benefits of PMBots, consider making your new assistant (PMbot) your ally rather than a foe.
For more information on PMBOTS, contact us at: info@medhira.com or +1 (718) 340 8465 or at or +91 9920394438
Leadership Resolutions for Project Managers
Become the best leader that you can be!
- Anita Dhir, PMP®
- Shobha Manam, PMP®
It is critical to revisit our leadership goals periodically.
As humans, we crave for stability, certainty, simplicity, and clarity but we have chosen to work on projects, that can prove to be volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA). In order to succeed in this endeavor, we must aspire to be the best leaders that we can be given these circumstances.
When considering new resolutions, it will be beneficial to reflect on the following:
- What does Leadership mean to you?
- Who inspires you with their leadership skills?
- What do you want to accomplish as a leader?
- Who do you want to be as a leader?
When we consider leadership in action, we focus on the following elements:
- Commitment (How you will take an active role on your projects and in your career?)
- Flexibility (Are you aware of and use appropriate leadership styles based on your understanding of the situation?)
- Housekeeping (Do you focus on quality and follow efficient processes?)
- Outreach (Do you seek mentoring, coaching, and / or a support network to help you?)
Overarching leadership resolutions for you to adopt are:
- Incorporate asking "Why" in each situation
- Embrace situational leadership
- Consider benefits in each scenario
Other resolutions that will enhance your career and help you to achieve project success are:
- Cultivating emotional intelligence
- Learning to pivot (Innovating and cultivating mistakes)
- Surrounding yourself with experts
We would love to hear about your experiences with leadership.
Medhira Enterprises provides project management consulting & training services in leadership and soft skills development, let us know what we can do for you!
Medhira's Latest Offering:
Products to improve your knowledge
PMP®/CAPM® Exam Readiness Kit:
Need materials to help you prepare for PMP / CAPM Exam? Choose your PMP/CAPM Readiness kit today!
Free Webinar:
"Agile for Business Results", March 13th, 2019, Noon - 1 PM, US Eastern Time, 1 PDU
Quotes to remember:
As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
- Sir Winston Churchill
Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.
- Warren Buffett
PMP®/CAPM® Acknowledgements
- Marcos Franco Murillo, PMP®
- Jonathan A. Ortiz, PMP®
- Ebony Tamara Matiere, PMP®
- Darren Sabino, PMP®
- Alexandra Harvey, CAPMĀ®
Did you take one of our PMP® Exam Prep Courses? Have you achieved your PMP®/CAPM® Certification recently?
Tell us about your success. Visit www.medhira.com and provide us with your information.
Join our growing number of certified project managers!
MEDHIRA's PM MODEL FOR SUCCESS
Project Management: Is a systematic, disciplined approach to attaining success for yourself, your company, and your clients.
Approach: Is as simple as following the steps laid out by Medhira's PM Model for Success.
Traits: Remember to be realistic, visionary, dedicated, creative, loyal and appreciative of success.
Medhira Enterprises provides consulting and training service in project management and operational best practices. We collaborate with our global clients to strategically improve their overall business performance. Our customized solutions are based on innovative and proven best practices that are targeted towards achieving your growth and excellency objectives.
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or +91 9920394438
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Copyright @2019 Medhira Enterprises
Message From The President
Let your light and wisdom shine!
Dear Colleagues, Business Partners, and Friends,
Each year at this time, we await the seasonal change.
For those in the northern hemisphere, onset of Spring calls for "Spring Cleaning". It also calls for a reflection of what we have manifested in the recent past.
At Medhira, last year this time, we released the PMBOK Sixth Edition related courses and exam prep materials.
Later, our focus shifted to the future of project management and the emerging trends in the industry. This journey has brought with it a feeling of awe for all that is possible and also the challenge of how we can help organizations and project management professionals gear up to thrive in the emerging environment.
This year, our focus was our new and updated website. BTW: I did the website myself. Any feedback is welcome!
We, at Medhira, are ever ready to help you with your career and business needs. We appreciate your trust in our abilities and thank you for your continued support.
Use our mock PMP / CAPM exams. Join us for workshops and webinars. I hope to "see" you at our upcoming complimentary webinar, "Agile for Business Results" on March 13th, 2019.
We appreciate your calls, referrals, and especially your Requests to collaborate for success.
Anita Dhir
CEO ⁄ President
March 2019