Chapter 5: Creating a Work Breakdown Structure

R emember when you were a kid and you bought your first model car? You opened the box, sorted all the pieces, put the decals aside for safekeeping, and gathered all your tools. Of course, you read the directions completely and carefully assembled each piece of the model with just the right amount of glue, patiently waited for it to dry before proceeding, and then finally applied the decals with a pair of tweezers.

Doesn t sound quite right? Were you more like the kid who ripped the box open , tossed the directions aside, and ended up gluing your fingers together? What s the lesson here? With experience you became more like the kid in the first example: meticulous, careful, patient, planning, and savvy with a tube of glue. The same is true with project management ”except for the glue thing. You, the project manager, need a detailed plan of the work, what phases are required in the work, and then what tasks are required within each phase. Just as it was building the model car, taking the proper steps won t be easy, but if you plan for success, you will reach your goal.

Defining the Work Breakdown Structure

An IT project manager cannot, and should not, do every piece of work in a project. On some projects it would be physically impossible for one person to do every task. Of course, with a project team, a project manager can delegate tasks to team members and let them get to work. But how will the team members know if their assigned tasks can begin before other team members tasks end?

For example, your project is to create an application that allows web users to search a database of all the different cowboy boots your company makes ”and have it in place before the Christmas shopping season begins on November 1. Customers must be able to search for their boots by size , color , style, and price.

A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) allows you to answer these questions, get your arms around the project, and assign jobs to your team members. A WBS is a deliverables-orientated collection of project components . It is a categorization and decomposition of the project deliverables. A WBS to install a new network, for example, may offer high-level deliverables such as LAN, WAN, extranets, and intranets . Each of these high-level deliverables is broken down into a more defined deliverable that comprises the high-level components. At the lowest level of the structure, you have the work packages. These are the smallest deliverable within a WBS, and they will be further decomposed into activities in the project schedule.

A WBS is important in all projects. It is necessary because it serves as input to five key project management activities:

• Cost estimating

• Cost budgeting

• Resource planning

• Risk management planning

• Activity definition