WBS, Work Breakdown Structure
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Abstract
This article examines the WBS, an acronym for Work Breakdown Structure. As a project manager it is important to possess certain competencies and qualities to achieve a successful project. However, personal skills such as communication, conflict management and being motivational are not sufficient on its own to make a project successful. As a project manager it is crucial to be aware and recognize the usefulness of various tools and concepts to help consider all aspects of a project, ranging from purpose, risks and planning. The Work Breakdown Structure is a common tool used in project management to establish an overview of the project and to divide tasks into smaller and more manageable sections. This is a powerful concept when planning complex projects because it visualizes the scope of the project in a hierarchical way, and furthermore because it helps identify key process groups, such as Project Planning, Scheduling, Risk- and Resource Management, Team Management, etc. This article aims at providing an overall understanding of the WBS, including its purpose, different types, various levels and specific elements. Constructing a detailed WBS is essential to create the best project overview, however, it is equally crucial to go just deep enough, so that the WBS does not get confusing. Examples of a Work Breakdown Structure and illustrations are included to emphasize the theory and solidify its purpose. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the Work Breakdown Structure are presented to clarify the strengths and weaknesses of using this tool.
Introduction
“The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity” (Douglas Horton). A puzzle consists of many small pieces that together create art. Likewise, a project also consists of many small tasks executed by many different people. Separating the project into smaller pieces of doable tasks makes it possible to delegate. Coordinating these smaller tasks, so that they together contribute to the purpose of the project, as the small puzzle pieces fit together, makes every piece integrated.
Work Breakdown Structure
Work Breakdown Structure is efficient tool used in Project Management to simply break the work down into a structure. A WBS is a product-oriented family tree that identifies the deliverables required to achieve the project end. The Work Breakdown Structure is a hierarchical and visualized way to divide the work into several substantial chunks, which further breaks down into new more detailed chunks. This decomposition creates an overview of the needed tasks to accomplish the project and makes it more manageable.
WBS elements
There are some key components which a typical Work Breakdown Structure consist of. These components are listed below.
WBS Dictionary To navigate in a complex project, it is important to have a WBS dictionary that defines the elements in the project work. This is a supplement to the visual tool the WBS provides and gives more detailed information about the activities. Often the substantial chunks in the Work Breakdown Structure have a title and a number that refers to the WBS Dictionary.
WBS Levels The levels are an essential factor to create the hierarchical structure that makes the WBS efficient. It is important not to have to many levels in the WBS because it can cause a messy and complicated structure, which is the opposite of the main purpose of the tool - which is to make a simple and visual structure of a complex project.
Project Deliverables The work packages are the lowest level of the WBS. It is a group of tasks that seems like a project themselves and can therefore be assigned to a team member. These subprojects help to get the tasks executed and contributes to the finish of the final project.
Project deliverables Project deliverables are not the final outputs of the project but the outcome of the work packages. It refers to the all the outputs that are submitted within the scope of the project.
