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WBS PDF

The document discusses the importance of project planning using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). A WBS involves breaking down projects into smaller, more manageable tasks that can be estimated and assigned. This helps define the scope of work, schedule tasks, and estimate costs. By decomposing projects into discrete work packages, managers can better understand what needs to be done, how long it will take, and how much it will cost.

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irshan amir
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181 views8 pages

WBS PDF

The document discusses the importance of project planning using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). A WBS involves breaking down projects into smaller, more manageable tasks that can be estimated and assigned. This helps define the scope of work, schedule tasks, and estimate costs. By decomposing projects into discrete work packages, managers can better understand what needs to be done, how long it will take, and how much it will cost.

Uploaded by

irshan amir
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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• In order to successfully accomplish

objectives, a plan is required that defines


all effort to be expended, assigns
responsibility to a specially identified
organizational element, and establishes
schedules and budgets for the
accomplishment of the work.
• Keeping this in view, in planning a project, the
project manager must structure the work into
small elements that are:
• Manageable, in that specific authority and
responsibility can be assigned
• Independent, or with minimum interfacing with
and dependence on other ongoing elements
• Integratable so that the total package can be
seen
• Measurable in terms of progress
– The idea behind the WBS is simple: A
complicated task is subdivided into several
smaller tasks.
• This process can be continued until the
task can no longer be subdivided, at which
time you will probably find it easier to
estimate how long each small task will
take and how much it will cost to perform.
PLANNING ANSWERS THE
QUESTIONS
• “What must be done?,”
• “How long will it take?,” and
• “How much will it cost?”
• Planning the what is vital;
– projects frequently fail because a significant
part of the work is forgotten.
– In addition, once tasks have been identified,
the time and resource requirements must be
determined. This is called estimating.
• A major problem in project planning is
determining how long tasks will take and
what it will cost to do them.
• Inaccurate estimates are a leading cause
of project failures.
• The most useful tool for accomplishing all
of these tasks is the Work Breakdown
Structure (WBS).
• The idea behind the WBS is simple:
• You can subdivide a complicated task into
smaller tasks, until you reach a level that
cannot be further subdivided.
• At that point, it is usually easier to estimate
how long the small task will take and how
much it will cost to perform than it would
have been to estimate these factors for the
higher levels.
A Simple Example
• As an example, if I want to clean a room, I might
begin by picking up clothes, toys, and other
things that have been dropped on the floor. I
could use a vacuum cleaner to get dirt out of the
carpet. I might wash the windows and wipe
down the walls, then dust the furniture. All of
these activities are subtasks performed to clean
the room.
• As for vacuuming the room, I might have to get
the vacuum cleaner out of the closet, connect
the hose, plug it in, push the vacuum cleaner
around the room, empty the bag, and put the
machine back in the closet. These are still
smaller tasks to be performed in accomplishing
the subtask called vacuuming.

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