Effectively managing complex projects from start to finish requires strategic thinking, resourcefulness, clarity of purpose, organizational skills, and fantastic people management.
Generative AI tools, such as chatbots like ChatGPT, can help you develop and streamline the processes needed to see your projects through to completion on time and on budget.
As in all areas of life, though, in order to get the right answers, you need to be able to ask the right questions.
Clear, detailed, and well-structured prompts make the difference between receiving generic AI garbage and personalized, insightful help. So here are five powerful prompts designed to tackle everyday project management tasks.
Business Project Buddy
This is a really simple prompt to turn ChatGPT (or another chatbot) into a personalized project management assistant that can talk you through practically any project.
Prompt: Act as an expert business advisor and strategist, and help me complete my business project. I will give you details of what I have done and keep you updated on progress. You keep track of tasks and activities, provide me with action plans when needed, and detail the next steps I need to take when asked to do so.
Create A Project Brief
The project brief (or project charter) allows stakeholders to quickly overview a project and understand its aims:
Prompt: Please help me draft a project brief. Ask me questions, one at a time, until you have the information needed to draft a document giving a high-level overview, objectives, scope, breakdown of key stakeholders, key deliverables, reporting requirements, budget and timeline. Structure it in a compelling way that clearly lays out the benefits that it will create.
Break Down A Big Project Into Manageable Chunks
It’s always a good idea to break tasks down into smaller chunks; so, here is how you can use AI to do it efficiently.
Prompt: Break down my task of [insert task here] in three hierarchical layers. 1: Major work items, 2. Their sub-tasks. 3. The specific actions people will perform. Number each action in the 1.2.3 format. For every bottom-layer action, provide a duration estimate in working days, list any dependencies or external blockers, state the result it will produce, and include a one-sentence action plan naming the responsible role, indicating when it occurs relative to project start, and explaining how success will be measured. Return the results as plain text in this order: first, the numbered outline, next a compact paragraph of details for each bottom-layer action, and a bullet-pointed list of major risks associated with each action.
Create A Kanban Board Template
Instead of spending time working out how to structure your project management board, let AI do it for you:
Prompt: Act as an experienced project manager in [your industry]. Our project is to [Your Project]. Please create a Kanban board template that includes space to track all of the relevant information we need to plan and assess our progress. Output the board template in an easy-to-read table format. Then ask me if any changes are needed or if more fields should be added to the template.
Stakeholder Communications
This will create an email tailored to people or groups with interests in the project to keep them updated on strategic decisions and developments:
Prompt: Draft a letter tailored for an audience of [insert stakeholders] explaining the impact of [decision/development]. Focus on communicating what, why, and when, in a positive and professional tone.
Automated Narrative Sprint Reporting
Upload data from your project management tool (e.g., Jira) to ChatGPT as a CSV file (taking care not to share anything confidential or in breach of organizational policies).
Prompt: Using the attached project data export, write a plain-language Markdown report with these sections: 1. Snapshot Metrics, 2. Narrative (approx. 150 words telling what happened and why), 3. Root-Cause Highlights (three numbered blockers with short explanations), 4. Lessons & Next-Sprint Actions (bullet points). Please also create a slide outline, giving a headline that communicates the key message and three talking points. Clearly communicate the narrative in concise language, formatted so it is easy to read and ingest (e.g., bold for metric labels).
Stakeholder Communication
Instantly draft personalized communication updates for anyone with an interest in the project’s progress.
Prompt: Write a concise email to [stakeholder name or role] about [update topic]. Start with one sentence that clearly states the purpose, follow with the key facts (what, why, how, where, when, who), clearly spell out one or two direct benefits or impacts for this stakeholder when relevant, and close by inviting them to contact me directly for clarification or further information. Keep the tone straightforward and professional, use plain English, and format it as an email that’s ready to cut, paste, and send.
These prompts will all do what they’re intended to do, but their real purpose is to introduce beginners to prompt engineering. If they don’t do exactly what you need, it should be easy enough to tailor them to your own requirements or use them as a template for writing your own prompt from scratch. Project management is just one of the ever-growing number of fields where prompt engineering is quickly becoming an invaluable tool, thanks to its ability to make us more productive and efficient.