Tuesday Brief: AI agents are joining project teams, and project managers are finding the coordination side of the job growing. This week we feature the replay of Keshav Puttaswamy’s session on coordinating people and agents, look at the human skills that stay with you, take a closer look at Microsoft’s Project Manager Agent through Erik van Hurck’s eyes, and catch up on the October 7 Project Online roundtable.
Featured Replay: Coordinating Humans and AI Agents - The PM Role in a Hybrid Team
Agents can post updates around the clock and change plans faster than anyone can keep up with. That can make the usual trouble spots worse: problems surface late, decisions stall, and coordination falls behind. Keshav Puttaswamy, a product leader whose work spans Microsoft Project, SharePoint, and Jira, shows how the project manager’s three core jobs shift on a team of people and agents: staying connected, keeping the plan current, and communicating in ways that drive action. He also covers which routine work AI can take off your plate. Members can watch it on demand for 1 PDU.
Watch Replay (60 minutes)
Resource Article: Balancing AI and Human Expertise in Project Management - The 4 C’s Framework
Before an agent joins your team, it helps to know which skills stay with you. This MPUG article sorts them into four: critical thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration. It also suggests handing routine tasks to AI so more of your week goes to the work that needs your judgment. It’s a short read to pass along to a colleague who is still deciding how much to trust the tools.
Read Article (6 minutes)
Replay Spotlight: Life After Project Online - A Community Roundtable
Project Online reached its end date on September 30, and teams are now working with the decisions they made to get there. In this roundtable, Erik van Hurck, Ira Brown, Nenad Trajkovski, Eric and Jeff Christoph, and Tim Runcie compare how their migrations went, what broke along the way, and where their teams are heading next. Live polls and attendee questions shaped the conversation throughout.
What You’ll Learn:
- How migrations played out across Project Server Subscription Edition, Planner, Dynamics 365 Project Operations, Smartsheet, and purpose-built tools
- Which parts of the move caused trouble, and how teams worked through them
Where organizations are headed next now that the retirement date has passed
Watch Replay (60 minutes)
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Upcoming Live Events
MPUG hosts live events with leading experts on Wednesdays from 12:00 - 1:00 PM ET. Members get live access and replays.
12/2: Upskilling Project Leadership: Building the Capabilities to Lead What’s Next | Learn More + Register Here
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PM Best Practice: Name Who Is Accountable for Agent Output
Before an agent produces its first update, decide who on your team is accountable for what it produces and who has the authority to act on it. With accountability and decision rights set up front, the agent’s output gets reviewed, and anyone with a question knows who to ask. This week, list the agents or AI features on your current project and write the name of the accountable person next to each one.
Set your accountability plan this week!
