Toward Agentic Software Project Management: A Vision and Roadmap
Lakshana Iruni Assalaarachchi, Zainab Masood, Rashina Hoda, John Grundy
TL;DR
This paper addresses how software project management must evolve in the era of agentic AI (SE 3.0) by introducing an Agentic PM as a multi-agent companion for human PMs. It presents an AI Roadmap from SPM 1.0 to SPM 3.0 and details four autonomy-based working modes (guided AI-autonomy, supervised-AI, human-AI collaborative, AI-assisted) to balance autonomy with human oversight. It defines a coordinating architecture with sub-agents and a central governance store, plus perception, decision, action, and learning phases, enabling data-driven, ethical collaboration. The paper also discusses the evolving human PM role to a coach/ethical strategic leader, outlines upskilling needs, and lays a research agenda to empirically validate and operationalize responsible agentic SPM.
Abstract
With the advent of agentic AI, Software Engineering is transforming to a new era dubbed Software Engineering 3.0. Software project management (SPM) must also evolve with such transformations to boost successful project completion, while keeping humans at the heart of it. Building on our preliminary ideas of "agentic SPM", and supporting literature, we present our vision of an "Agentic Project Manager (PM)" as a multi-agent system for SPM 3.0. They will work like a "junior project manager", or an "intern project manager" collaboratively with software teams. We introduce four working modes, with varying autonomy levels to choose from, based on the SPM task. This addresses concerns with ethics, accountability, and trust related to agentic PMs. We also share insights on human PM role evolution and new skill requirements as a "strategic leader" and a "coach" for humans and agents. While creating the foundation for agentic SPM research, we present a research agenda for the wider research community.