Don’t Let Human Foibles Hurt Small Projects

Small projects don’t always get the respect they deserve. Here are a few tips for keeping people’s peccadillos from derailing your small project: 

Consider team members’ personalities. Small projects have only a few people, so – um —  harsh personalities stand out. With small teams, you need people who work well together. Coax your team members into getting to know and understand one another, even if the project duration is short. Don’t forget about your own personality and that of your sponsor to minimize potential conflicts and leverage your team’s strengths.

Protect your team from excessively detailed reporting. Your sponsor may want detailed reporting even on a small project. Try to discourage this — if possible. On a small project, discuss status with team members and capture the information you need for status reports. Keep your sponsor in their comfort zone of status detail and your job will be much easier. 

Watch for competing priorities. Small projects don’t necessarily mean small amounts of work for the team. Others may be clueless about that and pressure your team members to take on other work. Emphasize the commitment needed to meet project timeframes with your folks’ managers. Small projects can yield big outcomes – make sure all stakeholders understand your project’s value.

Stay on top of change management. Even a small change can significantly affect business processes. To ensure you deliver the intended business value, don’t skip change management in your project. Make sure stakeholders understand, are comfortable with, and can use your project outputs to generate business value. 

For more about managing small projects, check out my Project Management Foundations: Schedules course.