Insights · Methods
How much project management does my project really need?
Too much project management paralyses, too little puts the result at risk. With a simple classification you can find the right measure of methods, documents and control for every project.
Dr. h. c. Konstantin Dirbanis · · 5 min read
I hear this question in almost every initial call, and it is a fair one. In my project assessments I regularly come across both extremes, often in the same company: the large programme is suffocating under templates and reports, while the small project next door runs without any project charter and only attracts attention once deadlines and budget have already been missed.
The good news: the right measure can be found in three steps.
Too much or too little: both are costly
Too much project management shows itself in forms nobody reads, status reports that lead to no decision, and teams that spend more time on reporting than on the actual work. That costs money and, above all, motivation.
Too little project management shows itself later and more expensively: goals that everyone understands differently, surprises in costs and schedules, disputes over responsibilities and a result that, in the end, nobody claims to have ordered.
Both have the same cause: projects are not differentiated by their complexity. Either the same approach applies to all of them, or every project manager decides alone.
Step 1: Classify the project
Before you talk about methods, you should know what you are dealing with. These six characteristics have proven themselves in practice:
| Characteristic | rather low | rather high |
|---|---|---|
| Duration and budget | a few weeks, small budget | over a year, large budget |
| People involved and interfaces | one team, one department | many areas, external partners |
| Novelty | familiar task, established team | new technology, new approach, new team |
| Risk and impact | errors easy to fix | impact on customers, revenue or reputation |
| Dependencies | stands alone | closely interlinked with other projects |
| External requirements | none | regulation, contracts, audits |
The more characteristics are “rather high”, the more structure the project needs. For everyday use, three classes are enough: small initiative, standard project and complex project. IPMA®, too, assesses the competence of project managers by the complexity of the projects they lead. That is no coincidence: complexity is the best measure of how much leadership and control are needed.
Step 2: Choose the right building blocks
For each class, you define which building blocks apply. Here is an example of what that can look like:
| Building block | Small initiative | Standard project | Complex project |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project charter | one page | goals, scope, budget, roles | detailed, with business case |
| Stakeholders | short list | stakeholder analysis | stakeholder management with communication plan |
| Planning | milestones | phase and schedule plan or backlog | integrated planning of scope, schedule, resources and costs |
| Risks | list of open points | risk list with measures | regular risk assessment |
| Control | brief check-in within the team | regular status report | steering committee and key figures |
| Changes | by agreement | simple change procedure | formal change management |
| Closure | short closing conversation | closing report and lessons learned | handover, closing report, lessons learned |
What matters here: the building blocks are the same, only their depth changes. Anyone who has learned what a project charter looks like can write it on one page or on ten.
The project charter: the one building block that should never be missing
If I could recommend only one building block, it would be the project charter. Before the work begins, it clarifies what everyone will need later:
- Reason and goal: Why does the project exist, and how will we recognise success?
- Scope and boundaries: What is included, and what is explicitly not?
- Result and acceptance: What will be delivered, and who accepts it?
- Framework: deadlines, budget and key assumptions
- Roles: Who is the sponsor, who leads the project, who decides?
Even for a small initiative, this one page is worthwhile. What matters is not the length, but that sponsor and project manager agree the charter together.
Step 3: Readjust along the way
Projects change. A small initiative grows, a complex project becomes manageable after one phase. So review the classification at every milestone.
More structure is appropriate when surprises accumulate, new people join or budget and impact increase. Less structure is appropriate when reports are produced that nobody reads, or when decisions are made within the team anyway.
Measure and approach are two separate questions
How much project management a project needs is independent of whether it is run in a traditional, agile or hybrid way. An agile project, too, needs a clear mandate, an idea of the scope and some form of control. You can read how to combine traditional and agile methods sensibly in the article Traditional, agile or hybrid.
Conclusion
Project management is not an end in itself. It should make projects safer and more successful, not harder. If you classify your projects and align the building blocks accordingly, you save effort on the small ones and gain certainty on the large ones.
For companies with many projects, it is worth defining the classes and building blocks once, for example in a lean PM handbook. Then not every project manager has to reinvent the wheel, and management can see at a glance how its projects are doing.