July 24 2025 at 08:24AM
Summer Readings for the AI-Curious Project Managers
Summer vacation is a rare moment of stillness in the pace of professional life. The usual pace slows down just enough to let new ideas land - and if you’ve been meaning to better understand how AI fits into project management, now’s a good moment.
These two PMI publications offer a thoughtful entry point: one helps you get to grips with the basics of AI in your daily work, while the other looks at what it takes to lead AI transformation at the organizational level.
Guide: AI Essentials for Project Professionals
“AI Essentials for Project Professionals” offers a foundational overview of Artificial Intelligence and its practical implications for project management.
Designed for project professionals without a technical background, the report explains core AI concepts like machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and large language models (LLMs). It emphasizes that AI isn’t about replacing project managers, but augmenting their ability to manage complexity, uncover insights, and make faster, data-driven decisions.
A key focus is on Generative AI, which is shown to help across the project lifecycle, from ideation and planning to execution and review, by automating repetitive tasks, generating content, analyzing stakeholder sentiment, and identifying project risks.
The report encourages a proactive mindset and outlines four key strategies for AI readiness:
- Building foundational AI literacy.
- Cultivating power skills (such as critical thinking and communication).
- Promoting ethical awareness.
- Adopting a growth mindset.
This guide includes practical examples where AI tools enhance productivity, such as using chatbots for meeting summaries or LLMs for report generation. As shown in the capability map on page 15, AI can impact every project domain - schedule, cost, quality, communications, and risk - making it an essential tool in the modern project professional’s toolkit.
The report closes with a call for continuous learning and experimentation, positioning AI as a long-term career enabler rather than a short-term disruption.
Get your companion guide to incorporating AI in day-to-day project management here.
Publication: Leading AI Transformation: Organizational Strategies for Project Professionals
This publication is a strategic guide designed to equip project leaders with the mindset and tools to drive AI-powered change within their organizations. It underscores that successful AI transformation is not just about adopting technology but leading a cultural, operational, and strategic shift.
The report introduces a transformation framework structured around three core pillars: Mindset, Skillset, and Toolset. These pillars support AI integration through strategic alignment, value-focused experimentation, ethical governance, and continuous capability building.
Key recommendations include building cross-functional collaboration between technical and non-technical stakeholders, fostering psychological safety to encourage innovation, and anchoring AI initiatives in clear business value.
The report also highlights real-world applications across industries, such as predictive maintenance, personalized learning, and intelligent process automation, and provides guiding questions for project professionals to assess AI readiness.
By cultivating curiosity, resilience, and responsible leadership, project professionals are positioned as champions of AI-driven transformation.
Continue reading here.
