ABOUT THIS EPISODE
The question everyone's avoiding: If AI can write status reports, take meeting notes, update schedules, and forecast resources—what's left for project managers?
Answer: Everything that actually matters.
In Episode 2, Rick A. Morris tackles the 60/40 problem—why most PMs spend 60% of their time on busy work and only 40% creating real value—and shows you how to flip that ratio using AI as your thinking partner.
The Core Truth: AI handles the transactional. PMs handle the transformational.
The Four Things PMs Do That AI Can't Replace:
✅ Sense Making - Translating chaos into clarity for stakeholders (AI can summarize, but can't make sense of the why)
✅ Decision Architecture - Designing how decisions get made and by whom (you don't make decisions—you design the process)
✅ Energy Management - Regulating team motivation and creating conditions for innovation (AI can't facilitate the conversation that rebuilds trust)
✅ Conflict Resolution - Navigating competing priorities and personalities (AI can't build relationships or read the room)
Three Power Prompts Demonstrated Live:
🔹 Project Health Diagnostic - Surface the top 3 risks, identify stakeholder gaps, find the decision being avoided, and get the one action with highest impact this week
🔹 Decision Architecture Mapper - Design governance for strategic, tactical, technical, resource, and scope decisions with clear RACI
🔹 Energy Audit - Identify where team energy is highest/lowest, spot misalignment, and craft the narrative to re-energize your team
Live Demo Insight: Rick runs all three prompts in ChatGPT and Claude side-by-side using the Social Wishing app project. Claude delivers exceptional coaching—not just diagnostics, but how to have the hard conversations with empathy and strategic framing.
Standout Claude coaching example: "The sponsor isn't being malicious. They genuinely don't see the downstream impact of small additions. The goal isn't to win an argument—it's to get them into the same decision-making frame as the team."
Your Non-Negotiable Experiment: Run the Project Health Diagnostic on one real project this week using meeting transcripts, emails, or status reports. Act on at least one insight. Notice: Did AI surface something you were avoiding? How much time did you save?
Episode Timestamps:
- [02] The 60/40 problem explained
- [05] Four things PMs actually do (sense making, decision architecture, energy management, conflict resolution)
- [09] AI = transactional, PM = transformational
- [12] Live Demo: Project Health Diagnostic (ChatGPT vs Claude)
- [20] Live Demo: Decision Architecture Mapper
- [24] Live Demo: Energy Audit
- [28] Your weekly experiment
Resources:
- All three prompts: PMThatWorks.com
- Video walkthrough: YouTube - AI Driven PM
Next Episode: The Halo Effect—why we keep promoting the wrong people into project management and how to become the transformational leader your team needs.
Subscribe and share if this changed how you think about your role as a PM.
Remember: You're not a project secretary. You're a dream translator.
#ProjectManagement #AI #Leadership #TeamDynamics #ProjectGovernance #ChatGPT #Claude
