314: Mastering AI to Supercharge Your Project Delivery with Elise Stevens

June 29, 2025·30 min·2 clips

Laura reveals how AI's advice on PMOs evolved from outdated templates to focusing on business value.

Laura Bernard hosts this episode of the PMO Strategies Podcast, joined by guest Elise Stevens, an expert in applying office productivity tools and AI to improve work efficiency. They explore how project delivery leaders can practically integrate artificial intelligence into their daily responsibilities to enhance productivity and reduce administrative burdens. The conversation establishes that mastering foundational project management skills is a prerequisite before effectively leveraging AI tools. Bernard shares her initial disappointment with early AI-generated advice on PMO functions, which focused on outdated templates rather than strategic delivery, though she notes the responses have improved over time. Stevens suggests starting with AI for drafting and refining emails, particularly for achieving a diplomatic tone or saving time on communications. Both hosts recommend using AI to brainstorm and articulate project risks, develop mitigation strategies, and structure presentations or reports. They discuss AI's role in automating status report generation and populating templates to free up time for higher-value work. Stevens proposes using AI to facilitate scope brainstorming sessions, especially for virtual workshops, to help identify potential requirements early. A key insight is that AI should augment, not replace, human expertise and experience in project delivery. Bernard emphasizes that AI cannot replicate the relationship-building, stakeholder engagement, and change management skills that are central to a delivery leader's role. The hosts reframe AI not as a job threat but as a tool to eliminate disliked administrative tasks, thereby allowing professionals to focus on strategic, people-centric work. Bernard reveals her team uses an internal AI tool called "Ask Laura," trained on her content, to provide just-in-time answers to mastermind students. Stevens frames AI adoption as a form of stress reduction by automating time-consuming, low-value activities. The episode concludes with a practical assignment: listeners should identify tasks they dislike and explore how AI could streamline them. The tone is conversational, educational, and supportive, blending strategic advice with specific, actionable examples. The style is practical and encouraging, aimed at demystifying AI and promoting its use as a productivity accelerator. Project managers, PMO leaders, and business transformation professionals seeking concrete ways to incorporate AI into their workflow would find this episode highly valuable. Listeners looking for deep technical implementations of AI or debates on its ethical implications might want to skip this practical, introductory guide.

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