Context: While conceptual research on AI in project management is advancing, empirical evidence of actual usage among IT project managers practising is limited. Objective: We investigate how Finnish IT project and programme managers use generative AI in daily work, identifying practices, organisational constraints, and future visions through individual interviews. Method: Using qualitative descriptive design, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 experienced Finnish IT project management consultants who work in multiple client organisations. Data were analysed through hybrid inductive-deductive thematic analysis to identify usage practices and future usage. Results: GenAI adoption is fragmented and peripheral, mainly constrained by organisational policies rather than individual resistance. Participants use GenAI mainly for support tasks rather than core project management functions. Despite varied usage, participants converge on envisioning AI as an ‘assistant not replacement,’ reflecting professional boundary work that preserves human authority. Conclusions: The adoption of GenAI in IT project management is limited by organisational constraints such as security policies and governance structures, which means that organisations should prioritise integration and data protection over bottom-up experimentation. More advanced capabilities remain aspirational, making incremental adoption through low-risk use cases more realistic than broad automation of core project management functions.
Sainio et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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