In this episode of AI Today, host Kathleen Walch welcomes Jennifer Tharp, president of Mastodon Consulting, former PMI Board chair, PMI Fellow, and also PMP and PMI-CPMAI certified. Jennifer discusses how AI is transforming project management, not just as a tool but by reshaping the work itself.

She highlights three forces as the new bottleneck: collapsed estimation, distributed authorship, and quality assurance. Traditional artifacts like Gantt charts and risk registers risk irrelevance, requiring project managers to evolve into decision governors who make choices visible, accountable, and aligned with organizational goals.

Key insights include:

• Learn how AI makes delivery unpredictable and how PMs can adapt estimation practices.
• Discover how responsibility for AI‑driven decisions is moving, and how PMs can claim it to stay relevant.
• Grasp how human review lags behind machine speed, and how new QA approaches can close the gap.
• Explore how PMs move beyond artifacts to frameworks that make choices visible and auditable.
• Learn how skills such as critical thinking, judgment, and communication keep PMs indispensable in the AI age.

Jennifer stresses that passive observers who do not embrace AI risk losing relevance and why PMs must claim accountability before it shifts elsewhere. She emphasizes that AI will soon be embedded in projects by default, but success depends on durable frameworks, rigorous governance, and enduring leadership to ensure ethical, measurable outcomes.

In this episode of AI Today, host Kathleen Walch welcomes Cheryl Howard, principal consultant at Howard Consulting, PMI standards volunteer, and PMI‑CPMAI certified. Cheryl shares how CPMAI’s structured, iterative framework, combining CRISP‑DM and Agile, helps organizations move beyond hype to deliver governed, human-centered AI outcomes.

She explains that AI project success starts with business understanding and clean, well-prepared data, not rushing into model development. Together, Kathleen and Cheryl highlight how CPMAI ensures ethical, explainable, and auditable outcomes, especially in regulated industries. Cheryl emphasizes enduring human skills such as critical thinking, governance, trust, and accountability are essential for project leaders navigating AI adoption.

Key insights include:

• AI success requires data that is clean, accessible, and properly prepared.
• Progress depends on clear accountability to prevent stalled pilots.
• Leaders must ask not only what AI can do but whether it should be done at all.
• Adoption fails when fatigue and overload outweigh readiness.
• Confidence grows when stakeholders are involved early, and outputs are explainable.

Cheryl discusses how AI will soon be embedded in projects by default, but readiness requires durable frameworks like CPMAI and enduring human leadership to ensure measurable, ethical outcomes.

In this episode of AI Today, host Kathleen Walch welcomes Islam Tanas, who is a PMI Authorized Training Partner, founder of PASS‑PM Academy, an AI ambassador at PMI, and PMI-CPMAI certified. With 20+ years of experience, Islam enthusiastically shares how the CPMAI methodology reshaped his approach to AI projects, moving from traditional project management to structured, business‑first strategies.

He explains that AI projects introduce unique challenges, such as data quality, model validation, ethics, bias, and governance, that demand a disciplined methodology. CPMAI helps project managers start with the business problem, ask the right questions, and validate outcomes before making technology decisions. A case study from his learning platform illustrates how AI can personalize exam preparation responsibly when guided by CPMAI.

Key insights include:

• Understand AI limits: what it can and cannot do
• Update skills through practice and professional communities
• Avoid stalled pilots with governance and ownership
• Build confidence through transparency, not just accuracy
• Scale AI responsibly with project managers at the center

Islam’s message is clear: AI is not magic—it’s a decision support system. Project managers remain essential in bridging business, data, and technology, ensuring AI delivers measurable outcomes.