keepITtech: From Project Manager to Intelligent Orchestrator - how AI is redefining the PM role in IT Smart Systems
- ioanadumitru
- 33 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Author: Oana Tudor
IT Project Manager
As artificial intelligence continues to advance, it is no longer just a topic of future speculation; it is already reshaping the way we work. Among the roles undergoing significant transformation is that of Project Manager (PM), and we can already see these changes within ITSS. One of the most exciting developments is the rise of agentic AI: autonomous AI capable of contextual decision-making is creating new opportunities and challenges for project leadership.
According to a Gartner report [1], “By 2030, 80% of the work in today’s project management will be automated or significantly transformed as AI takes on traditional PM functions.” So, does this mean that we will be replaced as PMs? I think not, but surely the way we lead, plan, and deliver is transforming.
It made me wonder: What happens to the PM role when part of our job can now be handled by a machine that “thinks” and acts? Traditionally, the PM was a manager of people, timelines, and deliverables. Today, the role is expanding to more orchestration, not just across human teams but across hybrid teams as well (including autonomous agents and AI copilots).
What does this look like inside ITSS?
Custom GPTs / ChatGPT: these are the tools I use the most. I rely on them for drafting communications, summarizing meeting notes, shaping stakeholder updates, or preparing meeting agendas. One of the biggest advantages is how well it translates technical explanations into clear, business-friendly language without losing accuracy.
ClickUp AI: it helps transform a task title into a complete, well-structured task description and can even auto-generate subtasks based on what the task is supposed to cover. Another feature is the AI-powered daily summaries in Dashboards. It analyzes task descriptions, statuses, and progress updates to give a clear picture of how the project is moving. What doesn’t work: for tasks with very niche technical requirements, it still needs some fine-tuning from the team.
Jira, Confluence + AI-powered add-ons: perfect for development projects; can auto-assign tickets, detect blockers, or recommend re-prioritization based on sprint data. In Confluence, AI boosts documentation quality by turning rough notes into something clearer and easier to follow. What doesn’t work: generating full documentation from scratch. It works best when you already have a solid skeleton.
Notion AI: a great helper for quickly turning project notes and raw information into clear, well-organized documentation like user guides, FAQs, or project plans.
Microsoft Copilot: it's becoming a real daily companion, especially across Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It’s extremely useful for extracting action points from long meetings, generating follow-ups, and drafting documents. In busy weeks, it keeps everything aligned without the constant worry of missing details in discussions. AI as our new project ally.
As mentioned, the AI role in project execution is already visible inside our organization, especially through predictive analytics and resource optimization tools. These are powerful enhancements but still fundamentally assistive.
Imagine an AI that reassigns team members dynamically based on capacity and performance or automatically adjusts timelines in response to shifting priorities, all without human prompts. [2]
As we gave more autonomy to these systems, a new kind of challenge arose: trust. We’ve noticed that it is not just about productivity, but about reliance. Can we trust an AI to make the right call when the stakes are high? Who is accountable when an AI-driven decision affects team morale, budget, or client relationships?
I believe this is where the human PM remains essential. We are becoming the ethical overseers, the ones who understand the bigger picture, who bring context, empathy, and judgment that no algorithm can replicate [3].
Managing hybrid teams: Human + Agent
One of the most interesting (and challenging by far) aspects we are facing is managing hybrid teams: people and autonomous or semi-autonomous agents working together. These agents might monitor velocity, reprioritize tasks, or suggest risk mitigations.
Some key aspects to manage in a hybrid team setting are:
Role clarity: who decides what? The PM or the AI? This should be cleared up.
Trust assessment: just because the AI can make a decision doesn’t mean we should let it.
Communication flows: people should facilitate the collaboration between humans and agents, especially in decision-making, ensuring that AI suggestions are understood, corrected, and adopted by the team.
Accountability: if an AI suggestion goes wrong, who owns the outcome?
Bias and transparency: people monitor how AI reaches its conclusions and whether those outputs reflect fair and unbiased logic.
Redefining the role
In the future, I see our role evolving more toward orchestration. This means we need to understand how AI agents work, how to use them effectively, and how to make ethical calls about when to use or override them.
PMs who embrace this change will become more strategic, because the more we understand these technologies, the better we can lead teams through uncertainty and complexity [4].
It’s important to understand that digitalization, including AI, is not a passing trend. As research in other industries shows, such as tourism and hospitality, digital technologies are now embedded as permanent drivers of sustainable growth [5]. For us in project management, this means we must view AI integration as a long-term capability, not just a tool we “try out.”
This paradigm shift is not about losing control; it’s about gaining new forms of leverage.
So, what’s next?
We're at the beginning of something exciting. AI amplifies our work with smarter tools and new levels of efficiency. But it also calls us to grow, be curious, adapt, and step into a role that’s less about control and more about intelligent facilitation.
At the end of the day, projects are still about people. No matter how smart the tools get, our role in guiding, connecting, and leading with empathy will always be at the heart of it.
At IT Smart Systems, we see this shift as an opportunity. As we continue to integrate AI into our delivery models, we’re reimagining performance, leadership, and success in our projects. We’re not “managing” projects in a traditional sense anymore, but orchestrating smart systems of people, tools, and data.
References
[2] Sahadevan, Sivasubramaniyan. (2023). Project Management in the Era of Artificial Intelligence. European Journal of Theoretical and Applied Sciences. 1. 349-359. 10.59324/ejtas.2023.1(3).35. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372208735
[3] A. Aliyev, “The AI and Quantum Era: Transforming Project Management Practices”, J. Fut. Artif. Intell. Tech., vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 348–370, Jan. 2025 https://doi.org/10.62411/faith.3048-3719-59
[4] Ahamed, M., & Raza, H. (2025). Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Project Management. Multidisciplinary Global Education Journal. https://www.allmultidisciplinaryjournal.com/uploads/archives/20250124175054_MGE-2025-1-191.1.pdf
[5] Gajić, T. (2024). Permanent Involvement of Digitization and Modern Technology in the Direction of Sustainable Growth in the Tourism and Hotel Industry of Serbia. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/388626197
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