Projects of different sizes

A commonly heard sentiment is "My project is very small, what parts of the PM methodology can I skip?".

The PO has considered this and years of experience has resulted in the following strongly held opinion: All elements should be considered for all projects, no matter how briefly this is done.

To expand, the PO asserts it is not possible to state a project does not need a communications plan unless you spend at least 5 minutes considering a communications plan using the approved template. The same statement can be made for risk management, financial forecasting, stakeholder analysis, in fact all elements in the methodology.

What the PO has always felt is that each element needs to be addressed to a level approporiate for each project. For some projects, the risk management plan can sit in the project charter and consist of a small number of briefly described risks and strategies. For other projects, the risk management will be a sizable document in its own right, and the process of managing identified risks can take considerable time. Does your project need a large, powerful steering committee that meets every two weeks? Perhaps it does, perhaps it does not. Only by considering the stakeholder relationships and how they will impact project success can this question be answered.

As with many parts of project management, there is no formula that can be applied and the solution is best reached through discussion and learning from other's experience.

As always you do not have to do this alone. The ITS Planning and Project Office is there to assist Project Managers at Monash. So have a read of Project Management@Monash (pdf 280kb) and contact the IT Project Office if you think we can help in anyway.