The work breakdown structure

A work breakdown structure (WBS), sometimes also referred to as a work breakdown structure, is nothing more than the organization of a project into its individual elements. The aim of the plan is to break down all individual elements into plannable and controllable subtasks and work packages. This gives project management and project members an overview of the entire project and its subtasks.

The tree structure has become established for the presentation of work breakdown structures. Another variant is the text structure with an outline level and various indents. This plan can be compared to the table of contents of a book - this gives you a good overview.

Regardless of which structure is chosen, the most important thing here is:

The project must be easy for a knowledgeable person to follow without much effort. It should be clear at first glance what kind of project it is.

To provide the necessary overview, a work breakdown structure should fit on a single page - too much detail is not helpful anyway and usually causes more problems than solutions. A very important point is to take enough time to create it. Although it makes sense to finalize the rough structure of the work breakdown structure at an early stage, you should pay the necessary attention to clarifying details and dependencies.

A work breakdown structure should consist of a maximum of 10 phases. If more than 10 phases are required, you should consider splitting the project into several projects. Depending on the type of structure, there are different forms of work breakdown structures:

In the object-oriented representation, the focus is on the result of the project. For example, if it is a project in the field of software development, various components of the software can define the structure of the plan. In an object-oriented work breakdown structure, the project is divided into individual components.

This type of structuring focuses primarily on the functions and their tasks. The function-oriented presentation is less concerned with time or the result and more with what the individual functions contribute to the project. In the function-oriented work breakdown structure, the focus is on the organizational functions.

The phase-oriented work breakdown structure focuses on the chronological sequence of the project. This method shows a chronological breakdown of the project into the various phases, which build on each other. In the plan, the individual subtasks are assigned to the respective phase. This quickly reveals time dependencies between individual subtasks. As many projects are highly complex and chronological interdependencies are the order of the day, it is important to make these dependencies visible in the plan. This allows upstream and downstream activities to be identified and included in the schedule.

A professional project structure plan should always be developed as a team. The skills of the project management and those of the specialist team complement each other:

The project management team manages the project and keeps an eye on time, costs and scope. The executive team contributes the technical perspective and provides input on the individual work packages and their execution.

The launch of a new product is a good opportunity for a work breakdown structure. After all, it is a one-off project.

For example, the "product launch" project can be broken down into five phase-oriented sub-packages. The higher-level sub-packages can be subdivided into many more work packages. This example is a phase-oriented work breakdown structure, as the individual phases build on each other. Each phase can be assigned further subtasks that must be carried out by the individual functions.

The development of a product usually requires many more resources than the launch itself. Nevertheless, it is important that all sub-packages stand alone and are clearly distinguishable from one another. This makes it easy to assign them to the individual functions. Each project can be presented differently depending on how it is structured.

A work breakdown structure can be used to divide large projects into small, definable work packages. This is important in order to assign the individual tasks to the project members and teams and to complete projects within the defined time, financial and quality framework. Within the project, the plan is the central instrument for planning and communication.

Depending on the type of project, the work breakdown structure can be phase-oriented, function-oriented or object-oriented. Which form and production method is best varies from project to project.

As you have seen in our previous posts, we are currently working on several projects. We are also working intensively on project plans. Time management is the be-all and end-all when it comes to projects. We will soon be able to tell you more about our project. We're practically in the starting blocks!

If you want to find out more about the work breakdown structure, take a look at the last Instagram post.

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