Avoid Pitfalls of Small Projects

If you are a new project manager and have been assigned a small project, it can be a great opportunity to prove your ability, but the stakes can be high. As far as management is concerned, if you can’t succeed at small projects, you can’t succeed at larger ones. If you’ve been assigned a small project, you may assume it is going to be an easy one. Project management methodologies are well studied, and small projects, with fewer players and smaller tasks, should be straightforward; the truth is, however, that the cost, quality, and schedule in small projects can be risky for a variety of reasons.

Most of the current project management literature addresses the complex issues that constitute medium and large-sized projects, with emphases on work breakdown structures, resource management, scheduling, and performance metrics — all critical components. Yet, often many unique threats to the success of small projects get overlooked. The fact is that small projects differ from large ones in important ways and recognizing these differences is important for the success of a small project. The following questions focus on software projects, but the principles are the same for most small projects.

 1. Is your small project a lower priority?

When it comes to assigning resources, large, mission-critical projects always win. Bigger …