Use Case for Artificial Intelligence in Augmented Project Management: A Framework for Success

Background - Project Management (PM) is a critical function for organizations and businesses. Whilst projects are important and continue to be important, the failure rate is still alarmingly high. The emerging technologies in this Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) era, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to grow rapidly around the globe. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to enable augmented Project Management (PM) functions, shape the discipline of project management and enhance the practitioners, organizations, or Project Manager’s capabilities. These capabilities could allow organizations to realize the true value of project management and enhance the success to meet the project objectives. This benefit highlights the need for AI-augmented project management (AI-PM). While the importance of AI-based project management is acknowledged by practitioners, the implementation of AI in PM is not clear as the project management domain itself is difficult, interrelated, and highly complex. At present, there is no widely recognized model or framework for coming up with AI applications in Project Management. Purpose - To assist organizations to seize the opportunity to leverage AI in project management, and produce AI-PM solutions, proper guidance, methodologies, and framework are required. Usage of use cases has been identified as a good technique for user-driven solutions in deploying successful technology. The primary aim and objectives of this research are to address this research gap and problem by proposing the framework of AI-augmented PM (AI-PM) use case development as well as suggesting the possible use cases for AI-PM. Design/methodology/approach - This research uses the Design Science Approach to guide the overall development of the AI-PM use cases framework. To achieve research aims and objectives, a theoretical framework will be developed by integrating and combining several theories such as a Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The research will first explore & determine the factors affecting use cases of AI-PM development. Secondly, to propose & validate a framework for AI-PM use cases development, and third, to propose AIPM use cases. It is then systematically demonstrated how the framework and proposed use cases can be used in organizations and future AI-PM development. Research limitations - Researcher and practitioner to apply, develop and implement the proposed AI-PM use cases framework in the real world. Originality/value - It is envisioned that the proposed framework AI-PM use cases can be a road map for AI solution development for project management, tools for organizations to embark on AI-powered project management, adopted by organizations, and a tool to accelerate successful project delivery