How to Think Big While Managing Small Projects
From the Voices on Project Management Blog
by Cameron McGaughy,
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Voices on Project Management offers insights, tips, advice and personal stories from project managers in different regions and industries. The goal is to get you thinking, and spark a discussion. So, if you read something that you agree with--or even disagree with--leave a comment.
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By Kevin Korterud
It’s typical for new project managers to be assigned to a small project to build their skills. Why? Small projects have a limited value at risk, a modest budget, a shorter schedule and a smaller team. But project managers early in their career who have successfully led small projects often ask me how they can move on to leading big projects.
Small projects, to some degree, can be more difficult to lead than larger ones. You are given much less in the way of reserve budget, schedule and resources. However, big projects are not just smaller projects with larger budgets and longer schedules. They have inherent complexities relative to stakeholders, scheduling, resources and deliverables not found on small projects.
My recommendation to project managers wanting to move to larger projects is to “think big” while running smaller projects. Thinking big involves adopting, where possible, practices required for large projects.
Here are two ways project managers can think big on projects. My next post will offer two more tips.
1. Leverage Support Resources
Many times, project managers running small projects attempt to perform all of the project operations activities themselves. This can include creating new work plans, calculating progress metrics, scheduling status meetings, and performing a host of supporting activities for the project.
While it may be a source of great pride to a project manager to perform these activities, they represent an opportunity cost. In other words, the project manager could instead be working on higher-value activities like stakeholder management or risk management.
Employing support resources even on small projects can save valuable time and costs. It also means the project manager doesn’t have to spend time becoming an expert in the tools and internal project operations processes. By having other people assist with the mechanics of building project plans and producing metrics, the project manager will have additional capacity for running the project.
2. Implement Quality Assurance Processes
Project managers on small projects tend to become immersed in a level of detail not possible on large projects. The small project also allows for deep interaction with team members that may not be effective on large projects.
In addition, a project manager on a small project may be tempted to start serving in roles akin to a business analyst or technology designer. This can distract the project manager from actually running the project.
To keep focused on project management activities, quality assurance processes should be implemented. Phase gate reviews, deliverable peer reviews, change control processes, quality performance metrics and the definition of project acceptance criteria are all good examples of quality processes. With the implementation of these processes, project managers can focus on deliverables and outcomes without getting too deeply immersed in the details of the project.
Check back for my next post on more ways project managers can develop a big-project mindset while executing small projects.
Posted
by
Kevin Korterud
on: May 05, 2016 10:20 AM |
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Comments (5)
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Thanks for this post Kevin. Very valid points to keep in mind. You've reinforced keeping the Big Picture in mind for me. Thanks again.
Thank you for sharing. I agree with point 1 as project management is a team effort and not a one man show (regardless whether it is a big or small project). However, there is always a tendency that budget for support staffs are not allocated during proposal stage and adding resources may reduce profit. A new PM is likely to be given one project, in which case, he or she does not have allowance to distribute his or her own cost to other projects. How, then, should we convince the company to give the additional budget (or resources) assuming that the client is not willing to pay for it?
Malcolm West
Managing Director| Prosis Solutions Limited (PROJECT in a box)
Woodstock, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Kevin, An excellent article and quite right small projects managed with the same ethos and tools as a large project is the right thing to do. Unfortunately often PMs on small projects lack the resources and access to the tools even if they are willing. That is why we provide Planner and Community Edition to support these PMs for free.
Planner provides planning, cost management, risk and issue management for your projects for free and is used by hundreds of thousands of user on small and large projects and programmes alike.
Find out more here:
http://www.projectinabox.org.uk/planner/
you can register to download here:
http://www.projectinabox.org.uk/registration/
Enjoy.
Malc
Kevin Korterud
Associate Director | Accenture
New Albany, Oh, United States
Hi Malcolm...glad you liked the article. Have had a number of discussions on the potential for using two sets of tools between small and large projects. Might be a good idea for a future post!
Ezara Penning
Systems Administrator I| Lincoln Land Community College
Springfield, Il, United States
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