Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Farrokh Alemi, Ph.D.
• Lee Baliton

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Why break up?

• Improve work management
• Understand resource and time constraints
• Set milestones for progress
• See alternative sequencing of components of work

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Definition of WBS

• Breaks the project scope
• Inter-related
• Discrete tasks
• Hierarchical tree structure

4
Definition of WBS
Clear starts and ends

• Breaks the project scope
• Inter-related task
• Discrete tasks
• Hierarchical tree structure

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Definition of WBS
Four possible relationships

• Breaks the project scope
• Inter-related
• Discrete tasks
• Hierarchical tree structure

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Definition of WBS
Four possible relationships

• Breaks the project scope
• Inter-related
• Discrete tasks
• Hierarchical tree structure

• Finish to Start Start second task after first
  one is finished

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Definition of WBS
Four possible relationships

• Breaks the project scope
• Inter-related
• Discrete tasks
• Hierarchical tree structure

• Finish to Start
• Start to Start Start second task same time as
  first one

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Definition of WBS
Four possible relationships

• Breaks the project scope
• Inter-related
• Discrete tasks
• Hierarchical tree structure

• Finish to Start
• Start to Start
• Finish to Finish Start second task so both
  finish at same time

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Definition of WBS
Four possible relationships

• Breaks the project scope
• Inter-related
• Discrete tasks
• Hierarchical tree structure

• Finish to Start
• Start to Start
• Finish to Finish
• Start to Finish Second task cannot finish
  before first one starts

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Definition of WBS
Lower level tasks inherit the relationships among
higher level tasks

• Breaks the project scope
• Inter-related task
• Discrete tasks
• Hierarchical tree structure

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Hierarchy of Activities
Level 1 The root of the tree is the project name
A
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Hierarchy of Activities
EHR implementation
A
13
Hierarchy of Activities
EHR implementation
Level 2 Components of the entire project
A
B
C
D
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Hierarchy of Activities
EHR implementation
A
B
C
D
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Hierarchy of Activities
EHR implementation
A
Level 3 Each level 2 tasks is broken into its
subcomponents
B
C
D
E
F
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Hierarchy of Activities
EHR implementation
A
Purchase system
B
C
D
Train users
Configure system
E
F
Purchase training material
Detail employees
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Hierarchy of Activities
EHR implementation
A
Purchase system
B
C
D
Train users
Configure system
F
Detail employees
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Hierarchy of Activities
EHR implementation
A
Purchase system
B
C
D
Train users
Configure system
F
Detail employees
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Hierarchy of Activities
EHR implementation
F
Detail employees
Train users
Purchase training material
Configure system
Purchase system
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Approaches to Developing Work Breakdown

• Guidelines
• Analogy
• Bottom up
• Mind mapping

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Approaches to Developing Work Breakdown

• Guidelines
• Analogy
• Bottom up
• Mind mapping

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Approaches to Developing Work Breakdown

• Guidelines
• Analogy
• Bottom up
• Mind mapping

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Hierarchy of Activities
EHR implementation
F
Detail employees
Train users
Purchase training material
Configure system
Purchase system
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Hierarchy of Activities
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Approaches to Developing Work Breakdown

• Guidelines
• Analogy
• Bottom up
• Mind mapping

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Task

• Mutually exclusive
• Exhaustive

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Task

• Mutually exclusive
• Exhaustive

Purchase of systems and organizing training may
not be mutually exclusive if the purchase
includes training
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Task

• Mutually exclusive
• Exhaustive

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Breadth .vs. Depth

• Focus on breadth
• Let details emerge
• Progressive elaboration
• Creativity

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Breadth .vs. Depth

• Focus on breadth
• Let details emerge
• Progressive elaboration
• Creativity

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Numbering Convention
1.1.2 Purchase training material
E
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Numbering Convention
1.1.2 Purchase training material
E
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Numbering Convention
1.1.2 Purchase training material
E
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Numbering Convention
1.1.2 Purchase training material
E
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Work Breakdown Is Not

• We need to clarify some common mistakes

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A Task Is

• Not a goal

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A Task Is

• Not a goal
• Not a process

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Work Breakdown Is

• Not an exhaustive list of work

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Work Breakdown Is

• Not an exhaustive list of work
• Not a chronology

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Work Breakdown Is

• Not an exhaustive list of work
• Not a chronology
• Not an organization structure

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Work Breakdown Is

• Not an exhaustive list of work
• Not a chronology
• Not an organization structure
• Not to be changed often

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Good Work Breakdowns

• Easy to understand
• Corresponds to job descriptions
• Not too detailed
• Preserve the most important relationships among
  the tasks
• Does not add to length of project

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Take Home Message

• Think Carefully through Work Breakdown Structure