How Do SMBs Differ When It Comes to Project Management

Welcome back to installment 2 of the #projectmanagement for #smbs newsletter. Thank you for taking the time to subscribe, and I’m really looking forward to having you all share your thoughts and experiences running projects in the SMB space. Please post in the comments below!

This week, we’re laying the foundation for future conversations around what best practice looks like for #SMBprojectmanagement . We will try to highlight how SMB project management might differ from traditional, large scale project management, which is the focus of most project management literature.

It’s worth taking a look at how folks define an SMB. At Tuck, we focus on the 8- to 80-person company, which leans more towards the S vs. the M. Gartner puts companies with <100 and <$50M at small and 100-999 and $50M-$1B at medium. The SBA has different small business definitions based on NAICS code, but in general, they say <500 or <$7.5M. Regardless of how you define an SMB, there’s no question that they have different needs than their multi-billion-dollar counterparts.

The rest of this article lays out 3 key areas:

1. Why do we value project management (regardless of company size)?
2. What are some of the disadvantages SMBs face that impact their style of project management?
3. What are some of the advantages SMBs have in regards to project management?

Purpose of Project Management

Here is a list of common descriptions of the purpose of project management regardless of the size of the organization.

• Achieve some business goal(s) through a time-bound set of activities
• Ensure that scope, schedule, budget, and quality are managed at the appropriate level of rigor and attention
• Increase the potential for successful delivery
• Establish accountability across project team members
• Identify risks to the project early to minimize negative outcomes
• Deliver consistent, standardized communication about the progress to best-inform necessary adjustments by project team members

Common Limitations for SMBs in Project Management

Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face many challenges. This is a list of some of the biggest challenges that may impact the scope and delivery style of project management that the organization chooses to deploy.

• Small, multi-functional team members often have multiple responsibilities in the organization, distracting them from the many initiatives they are working on.
• There is not enough work for dedicated project managers whose only job is to deliver the project(s) at hand.
• Limited budgets limit the investment in project management and productivity tools.
• Limited budgets limit the customization and automation of the technology stack of the organization, resulting in the execution of many manual, low-value tasks.
• Lack of deep expertise in certain domain areas – often HR, finance, security, IT, and/or data management.
• Company growth is less predictable, so team composition and focus often need to be adjusted

Common Advantages for SMBs in Project Management

While SMBs are dealing with a large pile of challenges, there are many advantages that SMBs have when delivering projects as well. Here are some of the most common advantages.

• The scope of projects tends to be significantly smaller than in large organizations, driving down the risks associated with complexity, managing large teams, and having large cost overruns.
• Teams tend to be much smaller, so communicating status is much simpler.
• SMBs are less bureaucratic, and decision-making can occur much more rapidly.

I’d love to hear other opinions about limitations or advantages that you are seeing at SMBs whether it’s your company or some of your clients. Again, please post your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below!