Customer Success Playbook Podcast S3 E57 - Elizabeth Harrin - AI Friday Special: Elizabeth Harrin's Guide to Smart Project Management Automation

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As artificial intelligence promises to revolutionize project management, many professionals feel caught between excitement and overwhelm. In this AI Friday finale of their three-part series, Kevin Metzger and Roman Trebon explore with Elizabeth Harrin how to harness AI's power without losing the human touch. From security concerns to practical applications, Elizabeth delivers a refreshingly pragmatic approach to integrating AI into your project management toolkit without adding complexity to your already full plate.

Detailed Analysis

The episode begins with a reality check that resonates across industries: despite AI's massive potential, most project managers aren't using it – primarily due to security protocols and corporate restrictions. Elizabeth's survey findings reveal a gap between AI's promises and its practical adoption, setting the stage for a conversation about realistic implementation.

Rather than pushing for revolutionary changes, Elizabeth advocates for evolution. Her advice? Start with AI functionality already embedded in your existing tools. Microsoft Copilot for meeting summaries, automated task suggestions, and workflow automation represent low-hanging fruit that sidesteps security concerns while delivering immediate value.

Roman's observation about the basics strikes a chord – while early adopters race toward advanced AI applications, many professionals haven't even discovered time-saving fundamentals like automated meeting transcriptions. This highlights a crucial insight: successful AI adoption isn't about chasing the latest technology; it's about finding tools that solve real problems without creating new ones.

Elizabeth's vision for AI focuses on eliminating repetitive work to create space for high-value activities like relationship building and strategic thinking. She paints a picture of AI as an assistant that handles data collection and analysis, freeing project managers to focus on what computers can't do – engage with people and build trust.

The conversation takes a practical turn with specific examples. Imagine uploading a year's worth of monthly reports and asking AI to generate an annual summary – transforming hours of manual compilation into minutes of review. Or consider tools like ClickUp generating task lists from project ideas, or Tom's Planner and Nimble surfacing potential actions from historical data.

Elizabeth's forward-looking perspective is particularly intriguing. She envisions AI analyzing historical performance data to predict deadline reliability – "Kevin has hit his deadlines 3% of the time" becomes actionable intelligence for better planning. While the percentage might sting, the insight enables smarter project management.

The episode concludes with a powerful reminder: AI should support your work, not create more of it. For customer success professionals managing multiple projects, this means choosing tools that genuinely reduce cognitive load rather than adding another layer of complexity to master.

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Episode Transcript

Kevin Metzger (00:05):
Customer success.

Roman Trebon (00:10):
Welcome back to the Customer Success Playbook
podcast.
I'm Roman Reaugh here with myco-host, Kevin Metzker, and
today we're wrapping up ourinsightful three-part series
with author Elizabeth Herron.
Kev, I know you're excited forAI Friday.
You ready to go?

Kevin Metzger (00:26):
Yeah, let's go.
Um, over the past two episodes,Elizabeth has shared tips on
staying sane while managingprojects and aligning
stakeholders.
Today we explore how AI fitsinto the equation without making
project management impersonal oroverwhelming.
I.
AI tools offer huge promises,automated scheduling, conflict

(00:48):
prediction, and reducingrepetitive work.
But Elizabeth, how can projectmanagers embrace these tools
while maintaining theflexibility that a human in that
human touch basically,

Elizabeth Harrin (01:00):
I think it's actually really quite
challenging at the moment, andone of the surveys.
Survey questions that I did forthe, my managing multiple
projects book asked how projectmanagers are using ai.
And most people said they're notbecause it's too many limits
with what you can and can't dowithin the, the confines of your
security protocols at work.
So I think it's important for usto.

(01:21):
To look at what AI functionalityis already in the tools that we
have, and think about how youcan tap into what you have got
access to.
So we can at least takeadvantage of that.
So maybe that's Microsoft, uh,copilot for meeting summaries.
Maybe, um, there might be sometask suggestions that are, that
autopopulated when you put yourdata into to apps.

(01:42):
So.
It's, it's looking at whatyou've got access to and then
thinking about how you can useit.
But it's a, it's a tool, right?
It should support your work, notbe, not be more work or more
draining for you.
So I'm personally thinking thatwe should use it for getting rid
of some of the repetitive work,a automating workflows.

(02:03):
Automating as much datacollection and data analysis as
possible so that we can havemore time to do the value added
stuff, like all the engagementand relationship building that,
that the computers aren't thatgood at.

Roman Trebon (02:14):
And you touched on something Elizabeth, I think,
which is, which is key, right?
But I think it, obviously whenwe talk, we talk about AI a lot
on this show, Elizabeth, and.
And again, there's an amazingtools out there and, and the,
and, and the advancement'sreally incredible.
But you know, Kevin, I knowKevin and I have been using
like, uh, the, the copilotmeeting notes, summaries or chat
GPT meeting notes for a whilenow.
So I, you know, I sometimesthink everyone's using it

(02:37):
because, you know, for me it'ssuch a time saver.
But I, I was just with a groupof folks who they're, they're
not even using it for that yet.
Right.
And I think they feeloverwhelmed with ai.
And I'm like, start, startsimple.
Just, you know, again, haveco-pilot running on record a
meeting, have the transcriptrunning in the background,
right.
The amount of time AI can save,just bouncing from project to
project and just summarizingthe, the key summary of what

(03:00):
that meeting, you know, whathappened in that meeting.
The next steps, even if it getsyou 80% of the way there.
That is such a time saver in myopinion.
Right.
But I don't even think a lot ofpeople were even using it for
the basic stuff yet.
Right.

Elizabeth Harrin (03:12):
I think you're right.
Um, I'm certainly not seeingpeople use it partly because of
the security concerns and otherworries that people have about
uploading their corporate data.
And perhaps you don't want yourvery sensitive client.
Secret projects out there inchat GPT when you're not exactly
sure what it's gonna be usedfor.
Um, but if you think about, youknow, when you're doing like an
end of year report for a clientor what you've achieved

(03:34):
throughout the year, if youcould just upload all of the
different monthly reports orproject board summaries or
dashboards that you've createdand then say to, to your tool,
give me a summary that's.
A great time saver than havingto try to think through, oh, I
can't remember what we did ninemonths ago.
I'm sure it was something good,but you know, going back through
all the emails to try and workout what, what happened.

(03:56):
So it's definitely somethingthat's, that's growing.
We've just gotta find ways to,if we can't use it within the
tools that we've already got,lobby for better access to
software so that we can reallytake advantage of the new
options that are out there.

Kevin Metzger (04:11):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, I think that's important.
And, um, you know, it, just,just a note on chat, GPT,
because I know it, it's alwaysgot kind of a little bit of a,
from a corporate standpoint, alittle bit of a bad name, but
really they do have.
Policies and settings where youcan ask it not to train on your
data.
Um, from a corporate levelthere, if you are engaging with

(04:34):
corporate, you can actually setit up, but even the free
version, you can ask it not totrain on your data as there is a
setting in chat, GPT for that.
So they've come a long way fromwhere they initially kinda
started with that.
Not that I'm encouraging anybodyto go against corporate policy
and use it.
That's not, not the point of thestatement, but, um.

(04:56):
If you

Roman Trebon (04:56):
do blame Kevin.
Kevin said it on the show.
We haven't even said, we haven'teven recorded.
This is fine.
Kevin said, drop your customerdata in chat.
GPT, you won't get in trouble.
So it, it's on record.

Elizabeth Harrin (05:06):
But you can use those policies and that,
those updates and those settingsto talk to clients and say, this
is, it's not as bad as you thinkit is.
How can we, you know, we wouldlike to use it.
Do we have your permission?
And then you can just, yeah.
You know, go from there.

Kevin Metzger (05:19):
And it's worth reexamining.
Regularly with your corporatecompliance as to what, what you
should be doing, because thesepolicies, things are changing so
fast in the industry.
Uh, you want to stay currentwith what's happening, make sure
your policies are updated.
I think we actually booked aguest for later in the year, the
other day to actually talk aboutsome guidelines for policies

(05:41):
around ai.
So kind of excited about that asa future.
One, one of the things reallywith, um, with the AI.
Project management tools.
One of the other things that Ithink is fascinating and really,
uh, uh, uh, a neat, especiallyif you have authorization to use
something like clickup, whichcan generate tasks based out of

(06:04):
ideas where you're like, Hey,this is what we're trying to
accomplish.
Can you help me generate tasks?
That's a fantastic one.
Or, you know, Roman was talkingabout the meeting meetings and
generating meeting notes, butthere are tools even that go
further than just meeting notesthat identify all the tasks and
who they were assigned to andwhat the dates were, if they
were discussed or suggestingthat it's, if they weren't

(06:26):
discussed in through these,through these tools.
So you can really start.
Taking it to the next level.
You gotta validate everythingthat comes out, make sure it's,
it's what was agreed on, butyou're, you're, you're actually
really enabling your projectmanager to really start
facilitating the taskaccomplishment as opposed to the

(06:49):
task of documenting the tasks,which is.
Yeah,

Elizabeth Harrin (06:53):
the more you can get away from the admin,
Tom's planner does the same orsomething similar.
Nimble work will surface.
Um.
Potential actions as well frompast projects.
So there's it.
The project management tools arecoming on a long way, and the
bigger the data set, the moreyou put into it.
Now in six months time, twoyears time, you'll have loads of
information and you'll be ableto surface all the lessons

(07:15):
learned, all the risks.
Um, what I'm looking forward tois things like where we've put
estimates in and it will be.
You know, I'll be able to say,oh, tell me the likelihood of
Kevin hitting his deadlines.
Oh, in the last 10 projects,Kevin has hit his deadlines 3%
of the time or something, youknow, something like that.
So we'll know to add an extrapadding or to be able to

(07:36):
challenge back 3%.
That was a, sorry.

Kevin Metzger (07:40):
I was gonna say, man, really?

Roman Trebon (07:42):
I say, how do you know Kevin so well?
It's unbelievable.
She on the show's amazing.
That's alright.
No, Elizabeth, this is awesomestuff and really appreciate you
joining us all week.
So, uh, our audience, you cancheck out
[e-mail],right?
That's your website.
You can check out all the booksyou have.
Customer centric, projectmanagement, project manager,

(08:05):
engaging stakeholders onprojects.
Any other new books coming?
Elizabeth, we should be on thelookout for.

Elizabeth Harrin (08:10):
Managing multiple projects.
Second edition is out in July.
Out

Roman Trebon (08:14):
in July.
Awesome.
So, uh, check out the websiteand check out Elizabeth on
LinkedIn.
You're on LinkedIn as well, so,so check her out on there.
Elizabeth, thanks so much forjoining us for this three part
series.
We appreciate you joining us allweek, and I know our, our
audience will get a lot of valueout of this conversation.
So thank you.

Elizabeth Harrin (08:31):
Thank you for having me.
It's been great.

Roman Trebon (08:33):
To our audience.
If you enjoyed this episode, ourseries of episodes, please
subscribe.
Rate the show, share it withyour friends and colleagues.
That helps us grow our audienceand help more people manage
their customer successstrategies.
We'll see you next week withmore on how you can drive
customer success within yourorganizations.

(08:55):
Kevin, great week.
Until next time, keep onplaying.