Some people think that managing small projects is easier than managing big projects. They are right, unless the economies of the scale require you to managing a number of these small projects at the same time. In that case, handling a small project is lot harder than handling a big project. 

Small projects even though mostly overlooked, can make up the bulk of the portfolio and are crucial to a company’s success. They might not involve large sums of money, but the fact remains that if managed properly, these small projects can add up to some major costs in the long run.

The good news is that project managers need only apply standard best practices to these smaller projects in order to manage them more effectively. Here we discuss some of the best methods to be applied in a small project in order to make them success. 

All in all, planning and handling a small project requires planning just like planning a big project.

Visibility in resource allocation:
The project manager has to be able to manage the allocation of project work in accordance with the available resources. The project manager must know who in the team is available to work before they assign tasks to people. The team member’s current work and future allocations has to be taken into account while determining how much work has to be given to a particular member. Even though the goal is to complete the work on time, it might not happen at all if the resources are not available and the available resources are not used judicially.  Not only should resources be available to do the work but they must also be the right resources. The project manager must have the skill of choosing the right team members and resources in order to complete a project.

Effective communication: 
Another important practice to apply to smaller projects is to open the lines of communication between the team members and the project manager. This will only help in producing better results. Only with increased communication could the project manager come to know about the difficulties faced by the members in completing the project. It is also important to let team members communicate with the project manager while the project is in progress. Small issues or holdups can snowball very quickly if they are not addressed in time. Everyone on a project team must know what is going on, and changes and adjustments like these should roll up to the general project timelines.

Project time tracking: 
Projects are executed in order to bring in a positive return on investment. This cannot be easily determined unless the project mangers know what the full investment was in the first place. Tracking time to projects is necessary in order to measure project ROI.

This is also important in monitoring project status at all times. Tracking is important it helps the project manager time to identify the mistakes and nip it in the bud. This will also give the project manager to analyze the different risks arising at different stages of progress of the project. He can then take necessary steps to counter the risks. 

Hence, managing a small business could yield positive result if the project management involves detailed planning by the project manager and whole hearted commitment of the team members.

By: Tariq Noor Khan