Work Breakdown Structure and Activity List Workshops Inspiring
Work Breakdown Structure and Activity List Workshops Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Today’s Agenda > Introductions & Project Charter Review (15 minutes) > Converting Project Charters into Work Plans (90 minutes) » Creating a Work Breakdown Structure – The “Nouns” » Break (5 minutes) » Creating an Activity List – The “Verbs” > Next Steps (10 minutes) Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Review Agenda – 15 minutes Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Nouns & Verbs (or. . . converting project charters into work plans) Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Converting Charters into Work Plans 1. From the project charter and scope statements, create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Our Focus Today 2. From the WBS, identify the activities needing completion 3. From the activity list, develop a network diagram, identifying the sequence of activity completion You 4. From the network diagram, develop a preliminary project schedule and assign resources 5. Iterate the above with key stakeholders until acceptance (a set of baselines) is agreed upon. Inspiring Your Next Success!® Your WBS Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Nouns & Verbs Nouns Verbs = Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) > The WBS = your “Nouns” » WBS = The things being delivered » Hierarchical representation of work elements needing completion—deliverables themselves or deliverable components » Single most important tool in scope definition, scope control, and communications “Divide and Conquer” Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
The Noun Workshop > Goal » Develop hierarchical definition of the project (30 minutes) > Materials: » Templates » Tape » Wall » Faith. . . that in lieu of a perfect project definition you, your teammates, and your customer will iterate the WBS to a satisfactory conclusion > You’ve gone deep enough in the hierarchy when: » Bottom level work—the work package level—requires ~ 4 total hours to complete » And/or adequate planning and control is achieved Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
WBS Template Mandatory Today Optional today, unless necessary Consider completion before the next customer meeting Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Tips for Creating the WBS Start Now (30 minutes) > Start with the major work of the project first (top down) » This is level 1, then proceed downward; this level establishes the framework for the entire project so be smart here » Figure out if the project is analogous to something else and cherry-pick the approach to the project • Use the Internet or other available expertise > If you’re tempted to think at the activity level (bottom up), that’s ok » Find a common theme to multiple activities, then convert to one or more nouns > Start an Open Items log now > No “Gold Plating” » Make sure to complete the work necessary to achieve the level of scope, quality, time and cost expected, no more and no less > 100% Rule » Child elements within a single parent element should represent 100% of the work envisioned in the parent > Continually ask: “What work is missing”? > All projects should include “Project Management” as a Level 1 work package Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
5 minute break Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
The Activity List > Activities = your “Verbs” » List of things to do to complete the work packages » Feeds into activity sequencing (network diagrams), scheduling, and resourcing process » Have durations, owners, and specified outputs » An activity should not be performed within your project unless it is specified Inspiring Your Next Success!® Note: Activities are defined only at the lowest level of the WBS Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
The Verb Workshop > Goal » Capture as many project activities as possible (30 minutes) = > Materials: » Templates » Tape » Wall » Faith. . . that in lieu of a perfect project definition you, your teammates, and your customer will iterate the WBS to a satisfactory conclusion > Reminder: Activities should be placed only below the lowest level of your WBS Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Activity Template Mandatory Today Optional today, unless necessary Consider completion before the next customer meeting Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Tips for Activity Definition Start Now (30 minutes) > Look Out!! » You will likely find a need for additional WBS elements through the activity definition process » All activities must fit logically into the WBS > Identify good opportunities to insert major milestones, which are defined as zero-duration activities » Indicates that a major block of work has been completed. Milestones are also good status reporting mechanisms when talking to customers > Consider strongly the role that quality and risk should play in activity definition > Update your Open Item log with issues > Exclude incidental or trivial activities Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Next Steps > Ensure that today’s WBS and activities have numbers assigned > Finish this exercise to completion before next class > Scope Iterations » Complete the first version of the WBS and Activity List as a team » Share WBS and optionally the activity list with customer to confirm scope » Re-define scope until complete > Schedule Iterations » As scope is progressively elaborated, continue to add appropriate activities » Use activity definitions to sequence activities (network diagrams) » Apply the concept of “critical paths” » Keep an eye out for new WBS or activities that might crop up » Assign dates and owners to activities » Share schedule (milestone-level) w/customer » Re-define until complete > Lock down scope and schedule; manage risk, quality, and change aggressively Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
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