Why is it important to reduce deliverables to a smallest component?
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A Project Manager’s Guide To Work Breakdown Structure Show
If you’re a project manager, one of the first things that you learn about is a work breakdown structure (WBS), but creating one that brings value to your project is a lot harder than many project managers expect. During this article, I’ll break down what a work breakdown structure is and give you a clear rundown of what you need to know about the WBS to support a successful project. You’ll learn:
What is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a chart that outlines a project’s deliverables and components; it’s used to provide clarity on what the project needs to deliver. It’s one type of resource planning visualization that project managers commonly use. The WBS is created as a hierarchy of things that the project will produce and organizes a team’s work into manageable chunks. The hierarchy is usually two to four levels deep. It clarifies exactly what’s going to be delivered at the end of the project and shows how those deliverables relate to one another.  A work breakdown structure as defined by the Sixth Edition of the PMBOK guide states: “The WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables. The WBS organizes and defines the total scope of the project and represents the work specified in the currently approved project scope statement”. Many project managers realize that within a project, things can go wrong at any time for a magnitude of different reasons, but more often than not, a project will fail due to a poorly documented or non-existent WBS. And the authors of Applying The Work Breakdown Structure To The Project Management Lifecycle confirm: “A poorly constructed WBS can result in adverse project outcomes including ongoing, repeated project re-plans and extensions, unclear work assignments, scope creep or unmanageable, frequently changing scope, budget overrun, missed deadlines, and unusable new products or delivered features. It’s worth noting that there are two ways of creating a WBS – either most commonly with deliverables as we described above, or alternatively with phases. The deliverables oriented WBS is most common, and is also known as Entity Oriented, Noun Oriented or a Product Oriented WBS. The phase-oriented WBS is focussed instead on the tasks required to complete those deliverables. The other names for this that you might come across are – Activity or Task-Oriented, Verb Oriented, or Process Oriented WBS. Important WBS definitionsBefore we go into further detail, I wanted to explain a few terms that I will be using in this article.
Why is a work breakdown structure important?The WBS defines what the project is all about. This detailed view of the project gives teams with the information they need to clarify the work required by each individual for all tasks. Without the WBS, it is likely that requirements will be missed, and further likely that the deliverables and maybe even the entire project will miss the mark. The work breakdown structure document gives a clear overview of the outcomes of the project, the order in which activities need to be performed, and the required project deliverables. A WBS gives clarity to all team members about what outcomes need to happen and the work packages break down exactly what is included. The level of detail in a WBS will depend on your project size, organization, and level of detail, but a good rule of thumb is to have a plan that is agile enough that you’re not spending your entire working week trying to keep it up to date! Here are the key benefits of a work breakdown structure:1. It increases clarity around roles and responsibilities.Since the WBS breaks out and assigns all tasks to individuals, it clarifies who is responsible for which aspect of work and includes due dates for each deliverable. Team members gain a clear understanding of how their work contributes to meeting each deliverable and ultimately the overall project goals. 2. It helps ensure all tasks are completed properly and on time.The WBS is the dissection of deliverables down to their smallest unit, making it more likely that no task is lost in the process. This breakdown process reduces ambiguity and confusion around what each team member is required to do, and when they need to have their work completed. Ultimately this also saves time, making better use of each individual’s workday and reducing waste. 3. It enables tracking of all activities.As each task is identified, detailed, scheduled, and assigned to meet a specific goal, there is an identifiable baseline to which all work can be traced back. The ability to track activities increases the chances that the project can progress as expected to deliver the client the best product or service within scope. The below image shows why the WBS is so important to detail the project deliverables and what are the required inputs. Work Breakdown Structure VS Gantt Chart: What Should You Use?The WBS breaks down what you are building for the project into smaller, more manageable components. The WBS shows what you are doing and the Gantt chart shows when you are doing it. How you use a WBSYou use the WBS for scope control, including change management. The (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of a project into manageable chunks. It is graphical and shows all the project parts in an organized chart. Unlike a Gantt chart, it does not show the tasks organized in sequence over time. How you use a Gantt chartYou use the Gantt chart for schedule control. A Gantt chart is created from the Work Breakdown Structure and tracks tasks across time. It shows the start and finish date of each task, their dependencies, and their relationship to each other in terms of sequencing. WBS VS The Critical Path Method: Aren’t They The Same Thing?A question that is often asked to me by Junior PMs is, “What’s the difference between the WBS and the Critical Path Method?” The critical path is the list of core project activities that need to be focused on to deliver the project within the triple constraint (time, budget, scope). If the critical path slips, then the project manager will have a consequence for the overall project in one or more of these three areas. One difficult area of critical path project management is knowing how to estimate it and what float (if any) exists on the task duration. To support this and also resource assignment there’s software that can be used and it’s important to ensure that as a project manager you are not only using the software correctly but you have the right software for your projects. Work Breakdown Structure Best PracticesWhen creating a good WBS, you need to be aware of and understand the following. These are important, key points that will steer you in the right direction: 1. Focus on deliverablesEnsure you’re breaking down the deliverables, not activities, required to produce those deliverables. 2. Make everything mutually exclusiveEnsure there is no overlap between components within the WBS. 3. Be consistentThe WBS serves as a framework for all subsequent planning activities so it needs to be clear and SMART with consistent levels of detail and breakdown on deliverables. Those 3 things are general best practices. You need to have these at the top of your mind during the entire WBS process. That said, here are some of my top tips for making a work breakdown structure once you get started. 6 Tips For Creating A Good WBS1. Take time to understand your inputs and outputs.Before entering your WBS in a program, make sure that you understand all of the inputs and what needs to be achieved. I recommend starting with the project charter/scope documents and using this to highlight the key deliverables/objectives. I normally do this with sticky notes and plot out all of the high-level deliverables and then use different colors for the different layers within the task. I can then put this across a desk and gather input/agreement from my team. Working with sticky notes helps me think visually and share my inputs with the team. If your team is working remotely, you can do this in various software. This is a great way to encourage the team to think about the sequence of activities and what’s involved. 2. Leverage your SMEsUse subject matter experts to assist in the planning and sequence of tasks/ activities. This can help ensure that you’re keeping things in the right order. 3. Get feedbackReview your WBS with the PMO/resource manager to line up any key resourcing so that you can make sure that your plan is realistic and in alignment with your Resourcing plan. 4. Get buy-inBuy-in is the key for any successful WBS, so make sure that you spend the time to go through it with your team to make sure that they’re aligned and agree 5. See the forest through the treesDo not make the WBS too detailed as it will become too cumbersome to update. I normally suggest not breaking down any task if it takes less than a day to complete (for medium to large projects). Of course, if the task is extremely important or on the critical path then an exception can be made. 6. Follow a consistent processConsider following a checklist like the one here to validate if your WBS is detailed enough How To Create A WBSTo create a WBS you must first identify the main deliverables of your project. Once this is done, you start breaking down the deliverables into smaller chunks of work and creating branches. You continue breaking down your tasks until you reach a point where they are manageable. As a general rule of thumb, most people consider ‘manageable’, to be 80 hours work. A WBS can be very unique and specific to every project manager. Each PM has its own way of breaking down deliverables and detailing what needs to happen. TechRepublic has a great article on the basics of a WBS which is worth a read before you get started.
I have included an example below of a WBS structure based on work packages and outputs which has helped me track deliverables and keep a clear focus on milestones and resourcing. What was most important for me in using a WBS was clarity and ability to filter on the key reportable aspects (i.e. the status of work packages/milestones). Work Breakdown Structure Example: What Are The Different Parts?Below, I break down what I put in each column of the work breakdown structure. I tell you where it’s located and how I use that part of the WBS.
Work Breakdown Structure Example: How To View All Resource Capacities?Below, you will see an overview of the resourcing capacity that I calculate to the right of all of the WBS information covered above. It’s calculated based on the project requirements. This can be really useful for discussing your requirements with the resource manager. What is really important for me is understanding the effort requirements over the duration of the project and making sure that the effort estimations from the team are realistic. ConclusionThe WBS is one of the most important artifacts that a project manager needs to create during a project and will set the amateurs apart from the experienced project managers. What would your top tip be for creating a WBS? Do you agree with the steps here? Let’s start a dialogue and help other project managers share the knowledge! What is the process of subdividing project deliverables into smaller manageable tasks?Decomposition. Breaking down the project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components is called decomposition. The breakdown should not be done until the cost and schedule for the work can be reliably estimated. The level of detail for work packages will depend on the size and complexity of the project.
What are at least two important considerations when you are creating a WBS for a project?The most helpful WBS plans contain these components: Identification of which organization, department, or individual is responsible for each specific work piece. The scheduled start and end dates. Required resources.
Why is it important to define and breakdown structures for a project?it can be used to show and assign accountabilities and responsibilities. it can show control points and milestones. it provides a way to estimates project costs. it ensures no important deliverables are forgotten.
What does deliverables mean in project management?Project deliverables refer to all of the outputs—tangible or intangible—that are submitted within the scope of a project. While the term may initially bring to mind the final outputs that get submitted at the end of a project, it actually refers to any project-related output submitted during any of the project phases.
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