The problem is, what is a "small task"? Retrieving a web page? Parsing CGI input?

For certain domains (and here I speak mostly of interacting with Internet services and protocols like HTTP and SMTP), the sheer amount of information you need to know to start writing your own module is staggering.

On the other hand, there are a lot of modules on the CPAN that a decent coder could reimplement by reading the documentation.

The trick is telling the difference. There's nothing wrong with taking things apart to figure out how they work or trying to reimplement something. But for certain classes of tasks, the odds of any of us getting things Right on the first few tries is staggeringly low. (That's part of the reasoning behind the CPAN testers, and CPANTS, if it's still around.)