Construction projet can have very large number of employees (thousand) vs IT (hundred) vs .....
Same goes with other parameters Saving Changes...
Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
I don’t believe PMI has an official definition of a ‘large project’, since the nature of projects differs so much across industries.
Personally, when I consider a project’s size I’m really evaluating its complexity, so I know how much attention I need to focus upon it. Generally, I regard a small project as one that has little risk, minor organizational impact, and involves few stakeholders. In contrast, a large project is very risky, is of great interest to the organization (and is often a high-profile project that’s sponsored by an executive), and can involve dozens of internal and external stakeholders.
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1 reply by Sofia Capito
Mar 07, 2017 9:57 AM
Sofia Capito
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Eric, when I try to apply your suggested definition e.g. "dozens of internal and external stakeholders" then we are having probably thousands of large projects in Europe right now.
@ all: when a small company with e.g. 20 employees is involved in a small project, it can still be quite risky for that specific company. Just because it is so small. But i would say that a project doesn't become a large project, because small companies are working on it.
Product Operations Program ManagerBarcelona, Cataluña, Spain
Somehow related to the question, I though of Dalai Lama's saying
"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito”
Thus, size of projects is relative. It is very tempting to classify them according to budget or FTE needed, and less frequent to do it by the nature/characteristics of yielded services/products.
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1 reply by Sofia Capito
Mar 07, 2017 9:53 AM
Sofia Capito
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That is a really nice quote! Thanks for sharing.
I understand the whole "it depends" thing, but this makes it really difficult. Is only a project like Berlin Airport and A400M a large project? If only a project as large as one of these, there are only, let's say, 50 large projects or so in Europe right now. I would tend to categorize more projects as large.
Somehow related to the question, I though of Dalai Lama's saying
"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito”
Thus, size of projects is relative. It is very tempting to classify them according to budget or FTE needed, and less frequent to do it by the nature/characteristics of yielded services/products.
That is a really nice quote! Thanks for sharing.
I understand the whole "it depends" thing, but this makes it really difficult. Is only a project like Berlin Airport and A400M a large project? If only a project as large as one of these, there are only, let's say, 50 large projects or so in Europe right now. I would tend to categorize more projects as large.
I don’t believe PMI has an official definition of a ‘large project’, since the nature of projects differs so much across industries.
Personally, when I consider a project’s size I’m really evaluating its complexity, so I know how much attention I need to focus upon it. Generally, I regard a small project as one that has little risk, minor organizational impact, and involves few stakeholders. In contrast, a large project is very risky, is of great interest to the organization (and is often a high-profile project that’s sponsored by an executive), and can involve dozens of internal and external stakeholders.
Eric, when I try to apply your suggested definition e.g. "dozens of internal and external stakeholders" then we are having probably thousands of large projects in Europe right now.
@ all: when a small company with e.g. 20 employees is involved in a small project, it can still be quite risky for that specific company. Just because it is so small. But i would say that a project doesn't become a large project, because small companies are working on it.
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1 reply by Eric Simms
Mar 07, 2017 10:37 AM
Eric Simms
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My reference to "dozens of internal and external stakeholders" wasn't a suggested metric for you to adopt, but my personal definition of a large project based on my industry and the organization in which I work.
Only you can define what 'large' means to you, and that definition will likely be based on the industry in which you work.
Saving Changes...
Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
@Sofia: Why do you wish to categorize projects by the arbitrary designations of 'small' or 'large'? Is there some advantage to doing so?
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1 reply by Sofia Capito
Mar 07, 2017 10:39 AM
Sofia Capito
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When being in a circle with people you do not know and you are supposed to say two sentences about your previous work. There is no time for lengthy explanations about the details. I would like to give the others an idea about the size of the projects I have been working on.
Let's take this example: 20 M€, 40 people, 10 companies, 3 years. In my eyes, this is definitely not a small project. But I wouldn't consider it large either. Just saying project is rather indefinite.
Saving Changes...
Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
Mar 07, 2017 9:57 AM
Replying to Sofia Capito
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Eric, when I try to apply your suggested definition e.g. "dozens of internal and external stakeholders" then we are having probably thousands of large projects in Europe right now.
@ all: when a small company with e.g. 20 employees is involved in a small project, it can still be quite risky for that specific company. Just because it is so small. But i would say that a project doesn't become a large project, because small companies are working on it.
My reference to "dozens of internal and external stakeholders" wasn't a suggested metric for you to adopt, but my personal definition of a large project based on my industry and the organization in which I work.
Only you can define what 'large' means to you, and that definition will likely be based on the industry in which you work. Saving Changes...
@Sofia: Why do you wish to categorize projects by the arbitrary designations of 'small' or 'large'? Is there some advantage to doing so?
When being in a circle with people you do not know and you are supposed to say two sentences about your previous work. There is no time for lengthy explanations about the details. I would like to give the others an idea about the size of the projects I have been working on.
Let's take this example: 20 M€, 40 people, 10 companies, 3 years. In my eyes, this is definitely not a small project. But I wouldn't consider it large either. Just saying project is rather indefinite. Saving Changes...
S RajasekarSenior Project Manager| AllscriptsBangalore, Karnataka, India
Small and big are relative comparison based on individuals/Group based on context and content
Ex: Building house is small compare to Street, Street is small compare to area, area is small compare to city, City is small compare to state, state is small compare to country, Country is small compare to world...etc Saving Changes...
Daniel GaleanoSenior Consultant| Productivity Enhancement Resources IncRaeford, Nc, United States
Hey Sofia, how are you?
I recently ran into something similar with one of my colleagues. I arbitrarily called a project "very small" when in reality it was a $187M project and my colleague disagreed with that characterization. In my defense, I was comparing it to multi-billion dollar projects but I didn't preface the statement. I took away two things from that experience:
1) I should have communicated the parameters I used before communicating, even if arbitrary, to have people on the same page.
2) Almost everyone will have their own parameters based on their experience.
The reality of the situation is that sometimes it is difficult to summarize this in two sentences. I think that most people will make their own project size assumption based on the information that you give them. So, to summarize, I think the key is to think about the best description of the project based on your experience using the minimum amount of words and avoid arbitrary parameters. I think that sharing Industry, Budget, Setting, and number of people involved is always a good start.
I hope my comments are useful, thanks for the post! Saving Changes...
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