Course Overview - AI Made Simple
Posted by [email protected] on Aug. 31, 2023 / Course Overview / Subscribe 0
I recently completed the course AI Made Simple, by Andy Kaufman. My first impression is that it provides a good introduction to several AI tools and discusses how to make the most of them, emphasizing writing good prompts. Here’s the basics:
- Full Title - AI Made Simple: A Practical Guide to Using AI in your Everyday Work
- Instructor - Andy Kaufman
- URL - https://ai.i-leadonline.com/
- Current Price (USD) - $49
A common mistake of the methodologist is to believe that the latest technique he just learned is the master technique that all people must use. ~Alistair Cockburn
Work in project management long enough and you start to recognize hype before it’s obvious, or maybe you just get cynical. I’d say I’m still figuring that out, but I don’t actually care. One thing I do care about is useful and practical tools. I’m starting to lean toward AI being a useful tool.
I got a little tired of the hype and buzz around AI and Project Management, so I decided to take a closer look and find the truth for myself. Articles like, AI will… “…Transform Project Management” or “…Replace 80% of Project Management Jobs by 2030” or “…Revolutionize Project Management.” The articles invariably go on to present a utopian (or dystopian) view of machines that have complete data sets of your company’s data that are going to be able to accurately estimate work that hasn’t been done before, identify and assign tasks, alert when the projects are at risk of going off track, automatically deliver reports to management, and increase the likelihood of project success by almost 50%. AI won’t just replace project managers; it will replace your PMO!
I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I do think it unlikely that EVERY company will be in a position to do this, and not using AI, as a project manager, doesn’t guarantee the company will get left behind.
“Anyone who suggests they know what the future looks like with these tools is trying to sell you something.”
Now that you know how I really feel about sales pitches, let me just say that I’m not a complete luddite. Even if there is a lot of hype and overselling, AI should not be ignored. I won’t go so far as to say it’s a game changer for ALL project managers, but there is something to it. It may still be in its infancy, but if you wait until it’s mature to learn if and how it can help you, you might get stuck playing catch-up at a time when you want to be out front. I think Andy says this a little better:
‘The oft-repeated phrase, "AI won't take your job. But someone using AI might," is not entirely accurate. However, the underlying sentiment is valid: investing in ways to learn more quickly and be more efficient gives you a competitive edge in your career.”
With all that said, I like Andy’s approach to AI. He doesn’t oversell it. He acknowledges that it is a tool; a tool that can be wrong and needs to be used wisely. And then he provides guidance on how to use AI wisely. Here are a few tips from the class:
- The tools make mistakes
- There will be bias
- Focus on your areas of expertise
- Don’t just copy-and-paste responses
- Protect confidential and proprietary information
“…here's the way to think about chatbots and other AI tools: they are your assistant. They don't get tired or bored. They can handle a wide variety of tasks and provide consistent responses. But they still need to be trained and monitored to ensure they're performing at their best.”
The purpose of course, from my perspective, is to help us develop the ability to author high-quality prompts. It introduces several AI tools:
- ChatGPT, from OpenAI
- Bing Chat, from Microsoft
- Bard, from Google
- Claude, from Anthropic
…and both discusses and provides examples encouraging students to practice using AI in the following scenarios:
- Personal writing assistant
- Personal project management assistant
- Personal executive coach
- Personal learning assistant
- Personal graphic artist
I don’t know if this is the best AI course for project managers, but it’s the one I found and I’m finding it useful. Case in point; I’ve got a project initiation meeting coming up and my stakeholders have been busy with National Knife Week. Given the plans for the next couple of months, I’m not sure when they’re not going to be busy. So, using what I learned from the class, I crafted a few rudimentary prompts and asked AI to generate use cases, user stories, and risks (with mitigations) for the project. I did these one at a time, but you can request all in the same prompt. Just be sure to ask for a specific number of results or you’ll only get 10-15 of each.
Now, going into the meeting, I’ll have a starting point for people who don’t normally think about use cases or user stories, and rarely talk about risk. Some items will be rewritten, some removed, and new items will likely be added to each list. It’s probably safe to call this a win for AI. Yes, the data still needs to be reviewed and updated. Yes, a human still needs to schedule the meeting, invite the stakeholders, get them to review and provide feedback on the use cases, user stories, and risks, and then turn that information into tasks and a schedule. But a few minutes of my time and a few prompts to AI has, potentially, saved 6 people a few hours and several weeks of time and effort.
In a couple weeks I’ll get a similar group of people together to do the same type of activity with test cases. My developers might even use AI to generate some of their code and documentation. My conclusion is that, even though there will be a learning curve for both people and AI, it has strong potential to speed up projects. Not every project, but enough to make it worth understanding how and when to use it.
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