Talk:Work breakdown structure

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[edit] This article was re-written from scratch on Dec 2, 2006

I've put this article on my To Do list for substantial re-work. Here are a few ideas: A WBS should be comprehensive but not "exhaustive." A WBS is a step-wise refinement of broad objectives to discrete effort that can be scheduled, or similar wording. No reason to associate WBS with U.S. Government projects; it applies to all projects even if the WBS is a simple list. The painting example goes back to the orignal aricle; need a better example and better presentation. How to Build a WBS states "In building a work breakdown structure for painting a room (activity-oriented) it is essential that you state the obvious." Huh? The second graphic (generated by inforapid.com) violates WBS design principles and graphic design principles. WBS design principles not spelled out clearly (e.g. 100% rule, outcome orientation, triple constraint decomposition, etc.) Application of short-term memory to WBS design? This is not supported by literature, and it's just wrong. Link cleanup More later If you have other ideas, now is a good time to list them. --Garrybooker 20:39, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

A major re-write has been initiated, as I announced here about two weeks ago. This is an important topic, and the prior article was unsatisfactory. Comments? Questions? Complaints? Garrybooker 07:32, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Just one, since its an article talk page, its not good practice to remove any talk from the page unless its vandalism or personal attacks.--Crossmr 21:57, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Feedback wanted

Do you like the WBS construction illustration? Garrybooker 05:43, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Some other thoughts- A WBS is primarily a tool for organizing and managing the work on a project. That is its reason for being.

- A WBS uses a hierarchical coding structure for tasks with each succeeding level providing a lower level of detail. The depth of any branch in the WBS hierarchy will vary and is dictated by need.

-A WBS groups tasks by work areas and sub-areas. An area can be physical areas, design drawing packages, project phases, system modules, or anything that makes sense for organizing and managing a particular kind of project.

The WBS structure for the engineering phase of an engineering and construction project will be organizaed differently than the construction WBS for the same project. This is because the work is organized and managed differently for the two phases.

- The top level of a WBS, the project level, is most commonly called level 0, not level 1. However there is no perfect agreement on this in the literature or by organizations.

- The lowest level of a WBS, sometimes called the terminal level, is just above activities, is generally called the work package level.

- I will try to upload a WBS example graphic for you to consider later this week.

I hope this is useful.

Regards,

H.E. Hall —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.242.64.129 (talk) 11:01, 11 December 2006 (UTC).

Reply to H.E. Hall: Thanks so much for the helpful advice! I too prefer labelling the root as Level 0, but PMI's Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures uses Level 1 for root of the bicycle example. I'll try to put some time on the article this week, too. I think having a section of exempalary WBSs is a good idea. We just need to watch for poor examples, such as the room painting example that was here for over five years. --Garrybooker 16:40, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

NOTICE: I plan to delete the paragraph Work_breakdown_structure#WBS_construction_example and Figure 1. There is no suitable citation that supports this technique directly. I hope, in time, there will be! If there are any comments, add them here with two indents (colons). Otherwise, it's gone. Garrybooker 04:15, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Hello, I'm new to Wikipedia, so excuse me if I have used the wrong function to add a comment. Back to the subject : I think the construction example should stay, at least until a replacement can be found. Perhaps it would be necessary to add a line such as "This describes one of the possible methods of WBS construction. Other methods exist." Personally I was taught and have used mainly vertical WBS structures using hierarchically linked boxes (the same WBS structure would later be used horizontally for tabular reporting or creation of gantt charts), and I would like to see such an example here too.~ Markspar 14:47, 13 December 2006 (UTC)Markspar 14:49, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Markspar, your feedback was perfectly executed by Wikipedia standards. Thanks for the signature, too. The PMI Practice Standard (Second Edition) includes a number of presentation methods such as the hierarchical box method. I think we'll create an examples section toward the end of the article. The examples can show different WBS content and different WBS presentations. Garrybooker 17:14, 13 December 2006 (UTC)