ABSTRACT
The important concept of scaling, or tuning, a project approach ought to be self-evident, but experience suggests that this may not always be so. Projects can be as much endangered at one end of the scale by an over-bureaucratic approach, as by one that is over-casual and indifferent to its circumstances at the other end. An over-bureaucratic approach can demoralize the team, who may feel that all they do is complete forms and reports, with no time left to complete any ‘real’ project work and deliver it to the customers. At the other end of the spectrum, projects attempted with inadequate plans and controls can founder without warning. Projects of differing size, complexity and risk need different approaches to their organization (who is responsible for what?), structure (how many stages are needed?), planning (how many plans are needed, and at what level of detail?), risk and issue management, change and configuration control procedures, and so on.
