Building Effective Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)

"If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail" Benjamin Franklin

Regardless of the life cycle approach, successful project management requires a comprehensive and detailed plan . A project manager’s main responsibilities include planning, integrating, and executing plans. Structured planning is essential given the relatively short duration and controlled resources of projects. Without proper planning, projects, and programs can face the following consequences :

• No clear and defined requirements at the beginning of the project
• Setting unrealistic expectations
• Disorder and chaos
• Attempts to place blame
• Punishment

There are four main reasons for project planning: 1) To minimize or eradicate uncertainty, 2) To improve operational efficiency, 3) To gain a better understanding of the objectives, and 4) To establish the foundation for monitoring . The first major step in the planning process after defining the project requirements is to develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), it is the most important element because provides a common framework for :

• Describing the total project described as a summation of decomposed elements
• Planning can be performed
• Determining costs and budgets
• Monitoring time, cost, and performance
• Establishing schedules

The purpose of this article is to serve as a guide for project managers in:

1. Understanding the purpose and importance of creating a WBS.
2. Identifying the key characteristics and components of a WBS.
3. Implementing a delivered-oriented WBS effectively in different project life cycles.
4. Evaluating the quality and completeness of a WBS.

Developed by Luisa Fernanda Salazar Rivera