Week 3 Discussion: Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

* The project is building and opening up a small 24 hour coffee shop*

The work breakdown structure can be confusing, especially for new project managers. Despite its name, it doesnt actually involve breaking down work; it involves breaking down deliverables.

This, among others, is one of several reasons why you need a thorough understanding of the work breakdown structure before you can create your own.

What is a WBS or Work Breakdown Structure?

A Work Breakdown Structure is the foundation of the project as seen through the project management professional certification training. A WBS has many benefits that will ease the project teams work during the project life cycle. It helps to better manage, estimate, coordinate and monitor the project. But how is this achieved?

WBS Project Management subdivides project deliverables and project work into smaller and manageable components, or levels. WBS levels are branched in a hierarchical way.

* The numbers next to each item indicate the number of hours or resources required to complete the work. The sum of all these must be 100 at each level. This is the oft-quoted 100% rule - that the sum of the work at each child level must be 100% of the work at the parent level.

WBS Levels

1. The first of the WBS Levels (Level 1) is the Project Title. Why? By the end of the project, the overall project scope will be completed, therefore, all project work and deliverables are under the project title respectively.
2. The second WBS Level (Level 2) is related to Control Accounts. Control accounts are major parts, systems, phases or deliverables of a project. For instance, if we're building a bicycle, the major parts of the bicycle (frame, wheels, etc.) constitute its control accounts.
3. The third WBS Level detail the Work Packages associated with each control account. A work package is a group of related tasks within a project. Because they look like projects themselves, they are often thought of as sub-projects within a larger project. Work packages are the smallest unit of work that a project can be broken down into when creating your Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Since work packages are the smallest parts of a WBS that are delivered to the customer, they must be explained clearly to the project stakeholders. To explain work packages in detail, Work Breakdown Structure Dictionary is used. Work packages themselves only state nouns and name of the deliverable. But what needs to be delivered must be explained in detail and that is achieved by WBS dictionary.
4. The last WBS level details the Activities to be accomplished. Activities are the tasks that must be assigned to project team members to complete the work package and are (typically) based on geographical area, engineering discipline, technology, or the time needed to accomplish them.

For This Discussion

1. Based on your course project, create a four-level WBS consisting of two control accounts (you'll expand on the number of control accounts for your assignment this week)
2. Create a WBS Dictionary that explains your identified Work Packages
3. Activities are grouped into individual work packages based on any number of variables. Explain your rationale for these groupings.