The Characteristics of Small and Medium Projects

Duration. Small projects take a matter of hours, days, or weeks, whereas large projects extend over months or even years.

Lower Risk. A small project is not as likely to impact a business’s long-term success in a negative way if it doesn't go well. If a large project fails, it could be a crisis for the company.

Few Stakeholders. There are few people affected by the outcome of a small project.

Small Team. A small project has a relatively small number of people responsible for its implementation.

Emphasis on Reaching Goal. There is often an attitude of "getting it done" with a small project, while a large project has a long lifecycle, more maintenance, more milestones, and less emphasis on final completion.

Action Steps:

Select a project of your choice to use for the duration of this course.

This could be work that should have been treated as a project (think back to where you identified examples of work vs. projects).

If you don’t have anything current, is there a specific type of work that you do that would lend itself well to project management, or a project that you’ve been wanting to do?

Remember that projects are temporary, unique, and satisfy customer objectives.

Module 2 – Project Stages for Small and Medium Projects