10 AI prompts for project managers that survive contact with a real project

Act as an experienced project manager. I've been asked to run a project described only as: "[paste the one-liner]". Generate the 15 questions I should ask the sponsor in our first meeting, ordered by how expensive the answer is to get wrong. For each, explain in one sentence what a bad answer would tell me.

Using these kickoff meeting notes, draft a one-page project charter with: purpose (2 sentences), objectives with measurable success criteria, scope in/out, key stakeholders with their interest, 5-8 high-level milestones, and top 5 risks with mitigations. Flag any section where the notes are too thin to draft responsibly, rather than inventing content. Notes: [paste notes]

I'm worried about this on my project: "[describe the worry in plain words]". Rewrite it as a formal risk register entry: risk description (cause → event → impact format), likelihood (H/M/L with reasoning), impact (H/M/L with reasoning), proximity, mitigation actions, and a contingency if it lands. Then suggest 2 related risks I might be missing.

Write my weekly status report from these bullet points: [paste rough notes]. Format: RAG status with one-line justification, 3 things that moved, top risk or blocker, and the specific decision or help I need this week (make the ask impossible to miss). Maximum 150 words, no filler phrases, no 'going forward'.

A stakeholder situation: [describe who they are, what they control, and what's happening]. Analyse what's likely driving their behaviour (give 3 hypotheses), then script my opening 60 seconds for a 1:1 with them, designed to surface their real concern without putting them on the defensive. Include the one question I should ask and then shut up.

Deliverable: [describe it]. Deadline: [date]. Team: [who you have]. Produce a work breakdown: workstreams, tasks per workstream with rough effort (S/M/L), dependencies between tasks, the critical path in plain English, and the 2 places this plan is most likely to slip. Ask me up to 3 clarifying questions first if the brief is ambiguous.

Design a 45-minute lessons-learned session for a project that [brief outcome, e.g. delivered late but well-received]. Give me: a 3-question pre-survey, the session agenda with timings, facilitation phrases to redirect blame into process observations, and a template for writing up lessons so the next PM can actually act on them.

I need to give a delivery estimate for: [describe the work]. I know: [list what little you know]. Walk me through a three-point estimate (optimistic/likely/pessimistic) using reference-class thinking: what similar work typically takes, which of my unknowns move the estimate most, and exactly how to phrase the estimate to my sponsor so the uncertainty is understood without me sounding evasive.

Since kickoff, these requests have been added to my project: [list them]. Original scope: [summarise]. Deadline: unchanged. Draft: (1) a one-paragraph impact summary quantifying the added work, (2) three options for my sponsor (descope, extend, or add resource), each with consequences, and (3) a polite but unambiguous email presenting them that makes 'all of it, same date' visibly not an option.

My steering committee meets in an hour. Project state: [paste your latest status]. Predict the 5 hardest questions this SteerCo will ask, and for each give me: the honest one-sentence answer, the supporting fact I should have ready, and the follow-up commitment I can offer if pressed. End with the one message I should make sure lands regardless of what's asked.