📈 LitMaps — Temporal Evolution of PUMA Research Field
Tool: LitMaps (https://www.litmaps.com) Phase: Phase 1 — Research Step: 02 — Scientific Mapping
Prompt A — Trend Wave Identification
Identify the main temporal waves in the literature on AI agents for project management from 2020 to 2026. Group papers into: (1) early automation wave (rule-based + ML, 2020–2022), (2) LLM-based assistant wave (2022–2023), (3) multi-agent orchestration wave (2023–2025), (4) benchmark and reproducibility wave (2025–2026). Show how each wave builds on the previous.
Prompt B — Emerging Topics Radar
Detect emerging research topics in AI for project management gaining momentum from 2024 to 2026 but not yet saturated. Specifically look for: local LLM benchmarking, human-in-the-loop governance for PM, sustainability metrics (CodeCarbon), and reproducible agent evaluation frameworks for software project tasks.
Prompt C — Concept Evolution Tracing
Trace how these four concepts evolved in the literature from 2020 to 2026: (1) issue triage automation, (2) software effort estimation with ML, (3) project risk detection with AI, (4) PMO automation. For each concept, identify the key inflection point papers that caused a paradigm shift.
Prompt D — Citation Acceleration Analysis
Which papers published between 2024 and 2026 on AI agents in project management are gaining citations most rapidly relative to their age? These are likely the most impactful recent works for PUMA's state-of-the-art positioning.
Usage Protocol
- Create a new LitMap using seed papers: Assalaarachchi 2026, Cinkusz 2025, Yao 2022 ReAct
- Expand to 50–80 papers using the auto-discovery feature
- Set timeline view: 2020–2026
- Export as BibTeX → Zotero
- Save timeline screenshot for PUMA thesis Figure 2 (literature evolution)
PUMA Relevance
The LitMaps timeline directly informs PUMA Section 1.1 (Context and Justification) by visualizing the maturation of the AI+PM field and positioning PUMA as a timely contribution at the benchmark/reproducibility wave. The acceleration of 2024–2025 papers justifies PUMA’s urgency.