Objective: Work decomposition is a critical skill for project managers and is more than just listing out steps in a project notebook. Applying leadership, change management and understanding corporate culture are needed for this important skill.

Overview: In class, breaking a task into smaller parts is easier than what project managers face in real life. One of the significant challenges is when the project manager is not a subject matter expert and needs the contribution from the project teams and the stakeholders. Having a strategy for getting a team to work together for this planning function can be useful when this challenge is present in the real world.

Question to answer: Work decomposition, or breaking down an activity into smaller parts, is a vital skill for project managers. How would you break down an activity that you knew very little or nothing about?