The transient hot‐strip (THS) method has been modified to measure thermal conductivity of small test specimens. The conventional metal strip used simultaneously as the heater and the temperature sensor was substituted with a 50‐&OHgr; commercial temperature sensor (grid 5.85 mm×6.35 mm). The short transient hot‐strip (STHS) method was tested on Pyrex 7740, stainless steel (NIST 1462 standard reference material), and aluminum to cover more than two orders of magnitude in thermal conductivity. The STHS method agreed with conventional measurement techniques within 3% in the thermal conductivity range 1–200 W m−1 K−1.