I recently wrote an article for PM Playbook called “Don’t Panic! 6 Technical AI Terms That Sound Intimidating (But Every PM Can Master).” It was written for PMOs and project managers who want to stay relevant in an AI-driven world—but don’t have time to become data scientists.
This companion guide takes that conversation one step further.
Reading definitions is helpful—but experimenting with AI directly is how the concepts stick. These prompts are written for you to copy and paste into ChatGPT (or another AI tool). They’re designed to:
- Teach you step by step, in plain language
- Use analogies and project management examples
- Move beyond surface-level “tips and tricks” into intermediate-level fluency
Think of this as a hands-on workbook. Try one prompt at a time and bring one new insight to your next team conversation. That’s how fluency builds—step by step.
Start Here: Your First Prompt
Paste this into your AI tool before trying any of the prompts below. It sets up the AI to act as your tutor.
“You are my AI tutor. Your job is to help me build intermediate-level proficiency in understanding how AI works, where it’s headed, and how it affects project management. Assume I have little technical or math background. Always use plain language and analogies from everyday life and project management. Avoid jargon unless you immediately explain it with a clear example. Whenever I ask a question, go beyond giving me quick tips—help me understand the ‘why’ and ‘how.’ As we work through terms, guide me like a mentor who’s helping me connect the dots, not just memorize definitions.”
Six Prompts to Deepen Your Knowledge
Agentic AI
Prompt: “I’m a project manager in [industry/type of projects]. First, ask me 3–5 questions about how I typically spend my day. Then, give me: (1) five tasks an agentic AI could realistically help me with today, and (2) five tasks that might be possible five years from now. For each task, explain in plain language how the AI would carry it out and what I should watch out for as a PM (e.g., oversight, risk, or governance issues).”
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
Prompt: “Imagine a company wants to connect Microsoft Copilot to its SharePoint files to improve usefulness. List the top 5 risks they should consider before doing so. For each risk, explain in plain language what it means, give me a project-related example, and suggest one question a PMO should ask the vendor or IT team.”
Vibe Coding
Prompt: “Explain step-by-step how I could use vibe coding (building with plain language instead of traditional coding) to prototype a simple project management dashboard. Use analogies where helpful. Clearly note which steps a non-technical PM could do alone, and which steps would need IT or engineering support before scaling.”
Custom GPTs
Prompt: “I lead a PMO. Here are a few details: [insert size, focus, challenges]. Suggest 5 practical ways Custom GPTs could save time and create consistency across our projects. For each idea, explain how it would work in plain language and note any setup effort or governance issues I should anticipate.”
Embeddings
Prompt: “I’m leading a project to connect an AI tool to our sales activity records, proposals, and contracts to improve decision-making. Explain—in plain language and with analogies—how embeddings work in this context. Then, list the main risks we need to manage as we implement. For each risk, show me how it could affect project outcomes.”
Hallucinations
Prompt: “Explain why AI sometimes hallucinates (makes things up) even when embeddings and RAG are used. Give me two concrete project management scenarios where this could happen. For each, show how I, as a PM, could double-check the outputs and build safeguards into my workflow.”
Final Note
Pick one term this week, try the prompt, and bring one insight to your next project conversation. That’s how you’ll move from nodding along in AI discussions to leading them with confidence.
