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  • Chapters
    • Introduction
    • The Stages of a Project
    • Chapter 1. Sponsorship and Leadership
    • Chapter 2. Defining the Objectives and Benefits
    • Chapter 3. Planning the Project
    • Chapter 4. Ensuring the Project is a Manageable Size
    • Chapter 5. Defining the Budget
    • Chapter 6. Managing the Risks
    • Chapter 7. Getting the Right Project Manager
    • Chapter 8. Getting Customer Representation
    • Chapter 9. Defining Roles & Responsibilities
    • Chapter 10. Getting the Right Resources
    • Chapter 11. Monitoring and Reporting Progress
    • Chapter 12. Communicating Progress
    • Chapter 13. Consultation and Leadership
    • Chapter 14. Getting Realistic User Requirements
    • Chapter 15. Defining Your Approach
    • Chapter 16. Conducting Structured Testing
    • Chapter 17. Creating an Implementation Plan
    • Chapter 18. Conducting a Post Implementation Review
    • Chapter 19. Realising the Benefits
    • Chapter 20. Learning the Lessons
    • Chapter 21. Celebrating Success
    • Checklist
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Ensuring the Project is a Manageable Size

Question 4: Is your project a manageable size?

Good Practice: A large project should be cut up into more manageable sub-projects, which only depend on completed sub-projects. The project planning methodology provides an excellent tool to subdivide major projects into more manageable sub-projects with short-term deliverables.

Each project plan should be subdivided into several key milestones. This approach helps to provide continuous delivery and makes sure progress is measured regularly. For example, a recent large project involved two separate project plans for different stages of the project, development and implementation. Each plan consisted of around 300+ individual tasks and approximately 30 key milestones.

The words size matters in black paint on a white building wall

In his article 7 Steps to Project Success, Peter Draper suggests it is necessary to break up projects into smaller, independent sub-projects that are more easily manageable. These sub-projects must be:

  • Small, that is, less than $1m.
  • Fast, that is, takes less than 6 months.
  • Compact, that is, fewer than 6 people on the team.
  • Focused on key benefits and not just deliverables.

Common Mistakes

  • Going for a big bang implementation.
  • Not being prepared to take the extra cost of splitting the project into separate stages.
  • Underestimating the overall complexity and the interactions between all the different components.
Ensuring the Project is a Manageable Size

Question 4: Is your project a manageable size?

5
Defining the Budget

Question 5: Have you defined a detailed project budget?

6
Managing the Risks

Question 6: Are you managing the project risks?

7
Getting the Right Project Manager

Question 7: Have you appointed an experienced project manager?

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