Lessons Learned with Microsoft Project (Part 2)

Dr. Andrew Makar is an IT program manager and is the author of the Microsoft Project Made Easy series. For more project management advice, visit the website TacticalProjectManagement.com.

  Lessons Learned   Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)  

Lesson #2: Build the “right” level of a Work Breakdown Structure

In the previous article, an important lesson learned was to understand the helpful views used to assign tasks, resources and communicate the project schedule. The next lesson learned focuses on building the appropriate work breakdown structure for the project.

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is the hierarchy of tasks in the project represented by a combination of numbers or letters. A WBS code identifies a task's unique place in the project plan. The number of levels in the work breakdown structure can vary depending on the project's complexity. Project plans lacking a detailed WBS have multiple resources assigned to the same tasks. It becomes difficult tracking project status at a high level, since it isn't clear which team members are working on project tasks.

This WBS is a poor one because there are numerous team members assigned to each of the tasks without a clear definition of who is working on the specific task. When tracking against these tasks, it becomes difficult to understand which team member contributed to the system integration task. When tracking at this level, there is always a detailed discussion around the unlisted tasks that contribute to the overall task. If delays occur, the project manager will have a difficult time explaining why the …

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