Does every project need a WBS?

Does every project need a WBS?

Every project has a WBS, just like they all have schedules and budgets. They aren’t always well done or even written down, but every project manager has some idea of what they are doing, how long they think it will take and how much they think it will cost. For example, you have a project that consists of two global parts or key tasks. These tasks will contain certain subtasks that must be followed strictly one by one. These subtasks can also have a list of activities in a smaller hierarchy. All this makes up a WBS structure. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is 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 WBS is the cornerstone of effective project planning, execution, controlling, monitoring, and reporting. Another good measure is the “8 – 80” rule, which recommends that the lowest level of work should be no less than 8 hours and no more than 80 hours. Level of detail for work packets should be documented in the WBS Dictionary or the Project Management Plan. With the 50/50 rule, managers assess 50% of a project’s value at the start and 50% when it’s complete. So, for example, if a project team is working on a fence that goes around an entire property, they can use their progress on the first portion of the fence to expect their total time and spend.

What is WBS in project management with example?

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a project management tool that takes a step-by-step approach to complete large projects with several moving pieces. By breaking down the project into smaller components, a WBS can integrate scope, cost and deliverables into a single tool. Work Breakdown Structure examples A Gantt chart can be considered one of the famous WBS examples. You can organize your Work Breakdown Structure as a Gantt diagram that links task dependencies and reflects project milestones. The 100 % Rule states that the WBS includes 100 % of the work defined by the project scope and captures ALL deliverables – internal, external, interim – in terms of the work to be completed, including project management. A WBS is not required to be created in any type of order or sequence. It is simply a visual breakdown of deliverables.

Which comes first WBS or project plan?

A WBS should be created before a detailled project plan as it is a basis to estimate the resources needed and to create a cost and time schedule. What is not mentioned in the WBS, will not be part of the project’s scope and therefore not be delivered. The Project Charter goes first; it is feed from the Project Statement of Work which you get from the client. From here you create the Project Scope which identifies the deliverables and from here you can create the WBS which decomposes the deliverables in Work Packages and Activities. A text outline is the simplest WBS format. It is easy to put together and shows the hierarchy of tasks. However, it is difficult to add additional information about budget, duration, and assignment using this format. While scope, cost, and time are the triple constraints of project management, there are three other project constraints you may encounter in your project life cycle: risk, resources, and quality.