(^28) 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know
Size Matters
Anupam Kundu
New York, New York, U.S.
ThE SIzE oF ThE PRojECT, the size of the team, the size of the deliverables,
and the size of the checklists—everything in a project depends on its SIZE.
Size changes the rules of how the game is played.
The bigger the project gets (in size or complexity), the more important it
becomes for a project manager to break down the project into manageable
modules and share the delivery responsibility of these modules with capable
people. This will ensure that key project members, including the project man-
ager, can see the “big picture” without getting lost in the details while scouting
for project health statistics.
Distributed projects tend to be bigger in size than other projects types; hence,
the tactics the project manager uses to manage the size actually impacts the
bottom line of the project. The word “big” conjures up a variety of images.
It can mean anything from eight people working for 12 months (if you are a
small vendor) to hundreds of people working on annual maintenance con-
tracts (if you are an enormous IT partner for your client).
Here are a few suggestions on how to carve out the right size for the proj-
ect and then make sure that everyone understands how the small parts of the
puzzle can make or break the big picture:
• Break down the project into as many independent, yet manageable, work-
streams as possible.
• Make sure each workstream has at least one key contact point responsible
for its delivery.
• If possible, try to have key members play overlapping roles in these work-
streams so that the “big picture” is shared across the teams.