Purpose, not process – the future of project management in an age of AI

By Simon Venner 2025-12-08T07:00:00

The opportunities of digital transformation are inspiring and bring many benefits, but good project management remains a human discipline, generating something that AI cannot, Simon Venner at Ward Williams writes

Almost 30 years ago, Michael Dallas founded and developed a specialist value and risk management team within Davis Langdon, a highly regarded project management business that was sold to Aecom.

Through his team and teachings, Dallas spread the concept of value drivers in construction – the things that matter most, the non-negotiable benefits of a building expected by the client and all stakeholders.

Value management (not to be confused with value engineering, which is a very different thing) was the way he used to identify value drivers and the conditions for success. In Simon Sinek language, it was all about articulating the “why?” before the “how?” or “what?”.

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