WBS is the breakdown of scope into products or deliverables that result from an activity or a group of activities. The WBS workpackages are broken down into activities to prpduce the workpackages. To structure the scope into a WBS is part of scope management, whereas the activity definitions (activity list) belong to the scheduling process (Time Management). Saving Changes...
Adnan ShareefEPMO Director| JEDCO (Jeddah Airports Company)Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
WBS dictionary is a list of definitions for the WBS components or term.
WBS work packages tend to still be representing the "what" whereas activities are much more focused on the "how".
For example, a work package in my "Cook Christmas Dinner" project's WBS might be Baking a fruit cake. The activities would be the major individual steps in the recipe to bake the fruit cake.
A wise philosophy teacher taught me in college, there is nothing quite like the power of analogies to break down complicated concepts into simple terms that most everyone can relate to in any language. Think about it for a minute, I could go up to anyone on the planet and asked, in their native tongue, hey, what's the difference between a WBS and an Activity List? The answer would most likely be, I don't know. I am certain, by using the "Baking a fruit cake" analogy, you would see the "lights" come on! Assuming of course the person knows what a cake is and they have "lights" that work. Thanks Kiron for confirming my long held belief. Saving Changes...
Kathy CastleAuthor at https://www.projectcubicle.com/| FreelanceTx, United States
The WBS and Activity lists are two different things. WBS is a breakdown of your scope of work. Activity list is a spreadsheet that includes all the activities in detail. WBS groups several activities that are involved on the activity sheet. Saving Changes...
