Is my company too small for project management?

You may be thinking that your business is too small for BIG project management techniques, but that is not the case. Don’t let all the fancy terms like network diagram, Gantt chart, and work breakdown structure scare you. And don’t worry if you don’t know how to use Microsoft Project or Primavera or any other project management software application … you don’t need it.

Project management is about organizing your data for a specific project and updating it as the project progresses. You can use a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet if you want, as long as you have something documented for your project, you are contributing to the success of that project.

Let’s review the definition of a project … a project has a start date and an end date with defined resources. So if you have a project that is due to start tomorrow and finish next Friday with a set budget of $ 1000 and 2 contractors working on it … You have a project! And you can manage it effectively starting with a pencil and paper. Still not convinced? Okay, let’s go over how we can achieve this …

You first need to determine how many business days you have to complete the project, minus holidays, weekends (unless you’re a workaholic like me), and scheduled vacations. So get out your calendars and start counting. Then write down that number for future use.

Now to break down the tasks. You can easily create a work breakdown structure because it is nothing more than a highly glorified detailed outline. Level 0 is the main goal of the project, Level 1 is the first task, then you can add subtasks below it and move on to adding your next level (s). For example, here is a WBS sample for making French toast. * my personal favorite * 

Level 0 Make French Toast

Level 1 Gather ingredients (or materials)

(it’s okay to list the ingredients below the level) i.e. spatula, skillet, eggs, bread, cinnamon, etc.

Level 2 preparations

Preheat the pan

Add butter to the pan

Beat the egg in a bowl with cinnamon.

Level 3 Cook

Dip the bread in the egg mixture on both sides.

Add bread to the pan

Flip when one side is brown

Remove when the other side is brown

Level 4 cleaning

Wash pan and spatula

Rinse the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

Save the ingredients

Clean table

I chose not to include the Eating task, although it was tempting. 😉

So now you have your tasks divided into levels with subtasks, now you just assign them. Next to each task, put the name of a person, one of your resources. Then ask them to estimate how many hours, days, or even minutes it will take to complete each task. Always involve your staff in this process.

Now you are ready to do some basic calculations. Add up the hours (or the unit of measure you used) for each resource and multiply it by your pay rate and voila! You have an excellent initial cost analysis for your project.

The next step would be to add the cost of materials, expenses, and so forth and add it to the initial cost analysis figures and subtract it from your total budget. Are you under or over budget? If it’s below, good for YOU! If you’re done, you should go back to your outline and see where you can cut down on time for some of the tasks, or maybe skimp a bit on cheaper materials. Better yet, what tasks can be done simultaneously! Your absolute last resort is to reduce salary rates. You need your resources to be happy and productive. 😀

Once you have the numbers you want, take all of this information and connect it to a Word document with a bulleted table or list, or Excel with rows and columns.

Here are some tips:

o Use cells in a table or cells in a spreadsheet to plot by day, week, or task

o Use Excel’s Sum button to sum columns and rows with 1 click

o Highlight or shade in color critical tasks that need to be completed on time

Keeping it simple is the key for small businesses like me, but trust me they are using the basics of project management and CAN be successful with them.