Project Definition: Creating and Using the

Work Breakdown Structure

Chapter 5

Copyright © 2010 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Chapter Learning Objectives

• Transform a project charter into a plan for action.

• Work with a project team to develop a work breakdown structure using mind mapping, top-down outlining and bottom-up aggregation.

• Refine an initial work breakdown structure to meet structure and content guidelines.

• Identify task ownership and create a responsibility matrix for a project.

• Estimate working and calendar times for project tasks, applying concepts related to parametrics, learning curves, and PERT.

• Identify a comprehensive set of key performance indicators for project deliverables and tasks.

• Determine project resource requirements.

• Develop a project budget.

When you have mastered the material in this chapter, you should be able to:

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Project Definition: Creating and Using the Work Breakdown Structure

“If you cry ‘forward’ you must make plain in what direction to go.”

Anton Chekov

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The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)• A tool that helps turn a large seemingly overwhelming

piece of work into a set of tasks that are doable, manageable, and measureable.

• A deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team, to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.

• A means for organizing and defining the total scope of the project.

• The planned work contained within the lowest-level WBS components, which are called work packages, can be scheduled, cost estimated, monitored, and controlled.

• The WBS is project manager’s best insurance against the risk of omitting important work.

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Exhibit 5.1

WBS at the Center of the Project

The WBS is the core of any project and almost every aspect of a project manager’s job relates in one way or another to the WBS

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Exhibit 5.3

Levels of Detail in a WBS for an Accounting Systems Upgrade Project

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WBS Formats

• Outline Approach

• Mind Map

• Organization Chart Approach

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Exhibit 5.4

Three WBS Formats for a Fuel Tank Removal Project

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Exhibit 5.4

Three WBS Formats for a Fuel Tank Removal Project

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Exhibit 5.4

Three WBS Formats for a Fuel Tank Removal Project

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Why Involve the Team in Creating the WBS

• Team members are the content experts. • They are best equipped to know what is actually

involved in generating each deliverable and how to break tasks down into doable work packages.

• When team members are involved in WBS development, they will have a systems view of the total project and the interrelationships among project elements.

• Participation builds commitment to the project. • People are far more likely to support what they have

helped to create.

• Collaboratively creating the WBS brings conflicting views and unresolved questions to the surface when it is not too late to address them.

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Options for Involving the Team in Creating the WBS

• Mind Mapping for WBS Development

• Top-Down Outlining Approach for WBS Development

• Bottom-Up Aggregation Approach to WBS Development

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Exhibit 5.5Getting a Start on the WBS Mind Map: Central Node with Project Name and Symbol

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Exhibit 5.6

Charity Run Mind Map with Major Branches for High-Level Deliverables

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Exhibit 5.7

A Project Team Developing a WBS Mind Map

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Exhibit 5.8

Charity Run: Detailed WBS Elements for Promotion Deliverable

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Exhibit 5.9

Tips for Mind Mapping the WBS

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Team Mind Mapping for WBS Development

• Advantages: • Stimulates creative thinking about the project’s activities

• Engages the team and helps generate enthusiasm and commitment to the project

• Gives the power of the pen (and thus the power of contribution) to all team members (including those who are less vocal)

• Is fast

• The nonlinear nature brings out many ideas

• Because mind mapping does not involve sequencing or priorities, it steers people away from potential disagreements about what or who is most important

• Disadvantages: • Less familiar

• Some team members may be uncomfortable with mind mapping’s nonlinear approach 5-18

First-Time Mind Mapping User

To be honest, I was surprised by how useful the mind map turned out to be. We started our project plan by drawing a mind map on the whiteboard. This simple tool enabled us to take inventory of everything we needed to accomplish and helped us draw connections between closely related activities. Eventually, we distilled the results of this visual brainstorming session into our schedule. The mind map presents an easy and fun way to get a major project started; it’s not intimidating and it allows participants to comprehend the project in its entirety.

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The leader of an IT group for a large recreational equipment retailer wanted to use mind mapping for WBS development, but his teams were geographically dispersed and it was difficult to get them together in the same room. He posted a blank mind map on a shared Web site, with the project name in the center of the page, and invited team members and selected stakeholders to add deliverables, activities, and work packages asynchronously over several days. People added ideas, edited ideas, and restructured the map as they saw patterns emerge. In the end, team members enjoyed the satisfaction that comes from taking part in the design of their project, and the project was off to a good start. Although they agreed that a face-to-face meeting would have been helpful, the virtual approach was effective.

Text Box 5.2

Virtual Mind Mapping for an IT Staff

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Exhibit 5.10

Outline for the Promotion Deliverable of the Charity Run Project

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Exhibit 5.11A

WBS Mind Map Created with MindManager Software

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Exhibit 5.11B

MindManager WBS Outline Generated from Mind Map

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Exhibit 5.11B

MindManager WBS Outline Generated from Mind Map

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Exhibit 5.11B

MindManager WBS Outline Generated from Mind Map

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Top Down Outlining

• Advantage: Most people have developed outlines, so the top-down approach is familiar.

• Disadvantages: Can be time consuming if team develops detail for

one deliverable at a time Participants might tune out if they are not interested

in the deliverable under discussion May be awkward to capture ideas that might emerge

spontaneously about a deliverable already discussed Team members are sometimes reluctant to add ideas

if the group is on a new topic, or if there isn’t any room left on a flip-chart page.

Less vocal team members are at likely to contribute less than their more effusive teammates

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Exhibit 5.12

The Affinity Diagram Process for Bottom-Up WBS Development

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Bottom-Up Aggregation Approach to WBS Development

• Advantages: Participatory Fast Team members may find it easier to think at

the detailed level about work packages because this is the work they do every day

People also appreciate having the time to work alone before conferring with the group

• Disadvantages:

Does not provide an a priori frame of reference or structure for the WBS and, as a consequence, the team might see the individual trees but miss the forest

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The WBS Document – Making it Useful

• Document the WBS in an appropriate level of detail – if it is useful for planning, accountability or control purposes to break tasks into smaller component parts, then do so.

• Incorporate project management tasks in the WBS.

• Conduct a sum of the parts check.• All lower level tasks should sum to their higher-

level parent tasks.• Ask: If we complete all of the work packages

noted here, will we have completed the parent deliverable?

• Ask for stakeholder input.

• Number the final WBS elements.5-29

Box 5.3

Details Derail DockworkersWhen a large shipyard reengineered its project management system, they implemented an improved monitoring and control system. The new system exposed underlying problems with the shipyard’s estimating standards and practices. Nearly all tasks took longer than expected. There were two predominating root causes. First, estimating standards had not been updated in decades. Consequently, they did not account for recent changes in technology , space available for people to work, and so on. Second, shipyard officials soon discovered that some of the inaccuracy stemmed from making estimates at an insufficient level of detail. In response, they revamped the entire estimating system.

This appeared to be a good solution, until they discovered a dramatic increase in accidents on the shipyard’s docks. When they investigated, they found that the time supervisors spent on the docks had decreased significantly; they were too busy filling out progress forms on detailed tasks to engage in management by wandering around or to pay attention to safety practices. To address the problems associated with improper focus and micromanagement of progress reporting, shipyard managers reformatted the tracking system to focus on aggregated tasks. However, they continued to plan and estimate at the detailed level to reap the benefits of accuracy. Bottom line: plan in fine detail; manage at a more aggregate level.

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Assigning Responsibility

• Conduct a global review of tasks assignments to assure each task has an owner.

• Create a responsibility matrix that documents the specific contributions (i.e., provide input to, participate in, be responsible for) team members make to project tasks.

• Where helpful, create a project organization structure to document deliverables and owners.

• Where resources are involved in multiple projects, create a project involvement matrix to document the percent of time each resource devotes to each project.

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One of the attractive features of mind mapping is that it can aid in task responsibility assignment. If each team member uses a different color marker when creating the mind map, you may easily be able to discern areas of interest. If a branch on the mind map is dominated by a particular color, the team member who worked with that pen color may be a good candidate to assume responsibility for tasks related to the deliverable in question. For example: “Harriet, you seem to have been very active in generating ideas for the intellectual property deliverable. Would you be willing to take responsibility?” Numerous managers have told us they are amazed at how well this works.

Text Box 5.4

Virtual Mind Mapping for an IT Staff

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Exhibit 5.13

Responsibility Matrix for Details within the Promotion Deliverable of the 10K charity Run

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Exhibit 5.14

Organization Chart for Charity Run

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Exhibit 5.15

Project Involvement Matrix

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Tips for Time Estimates• Consider the purpose:

• Time estimates for scheduling purposes should reflect elapsed time for task completion.

• Time estimates for billing and accounting should reflect actual working time for tasks.

• Seek more detail: The more detailed the WBS, the easier it is to develop accurate time estimates.

• Ask those who will do the work: They are often in the best position to accurately estimate time required for a given task.

• Get a range of times, instead of a single point estimate.

• Use three-point (PERT) estimates.

• Ask about and document assumptions.

• Consult historical information.

• Recognize outsourcing & subcontracting take time and resources.

• Consider parametric estimating.

• Incorporate anticipated improvement in efficiency with learning curves. 5-36

Exhibit 5.16

Learning Curve Illustration

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Exhibit 5.17Learning Curve Tables with Unit and Cumulative Value for Rates of 60%, 75%, and 95%

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Exhibit 5.18

Resource Requirements for Promotion Component of the 10K Charity Run

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Estimating Project Costs• If the organization has conducted a formal business case

analysis, as described in Chapter 3, the core project team will have an initial idea of what the project should cost.

This ballpark or order of magnitude estimate served as the basis for the project selection decision.

• Once the project has been sanctioned, and especially for projects involving long duration, large scope or high complexity, the team may develop a second budgetary estimate.

This number will reflect expectations regarding what financial resources, in aggregate, will be needed to support project work over its planned duration.

• With a description of the labor, time, and other resources required for each individual work package, the team is in a good position to estimate the cost for each project task or deliverable.

Combining lower-level cost estimates will provide a total estimated cost for the project as a whole. 5-40

Exhibit 5.19

Charity Run Budget for the Promotion Deliverable

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Exhibit 5.20

Underlying Accounting for Project Budget Displayed in Exhibit 5.19

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Exhibit 5.22

Examples of Key Performance Indicators for 10K Run Promotion Deliverable

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Chapter Summary• The work breakdown structure is the heart of the

project.

• The WBS is the project manager’s best insurance against the risk of omitting important work from the project plan and establishes the boundaries of project scope.

• Almost every aspect of a project manager’s job relates in one way or another to the WBS.

• Mind mapping is a powerful and visual team-based tool for WBS development,

• The detailed task list the WBS produces is the starting point for assigning task responsibility, estimating task durations, determining required resources, and estimating detailed project costs.

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