Transcript Work Breakdown Structure Training

Work Plan Development
Or answering the question:
“So . . . what do we do now?”
Inspiring Your Next Success!®
1
Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Today’s Agenda
> Converting Project Charters into Work Plans
> Creating a Work Breakdown Structure – The “Nouns”
> Break
> Creating an Activity List – The “Verbs”
> Next Steps
Inspiring Your Next Success!®
2
Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Work Plans
Work Plans identify
sequenced activities that
must be completed to fulfill
Project Charter contents
Project Charter
Work Plan
Inspiring Your Next Success!®
3
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!®
4
Your WBS
Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
> The WBS = your “Nouns”
» WBS = The work 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
» What about a ‘survey’?
Inspiring Your Next Success!®
5
Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
The Noun Workshop
> Goal
» Develop hierarchical definition of the project (30 minutes)
» “Divide and conquer”
> Materials:
» Sticky notes, tape, and pens
» Wall or desk
> 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!®
6
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)—e.g. deliverables
» 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!®
7
Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
WBS Template
Today
Consider
completing
and
summarizing
results before
the next
customer
meeting
Inspiring Your Next Success!®
8
Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Break
Inspiring Your Next Success!®
9
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
10
Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
The Verb Workshop
> Goal
=
» Capture as many project activities as possible (30 minutes)
> Materials:
» Sticky notes, tape, and pens
» Wall
> Reminder: Activities should be placed only below the lowest level of
your WBS
Inspiring Your Next Success!®
11
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!®
12
Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting
Activity Template
Today
Consider
completing
and
summarizing
before the
next customer
meeting
Inspiring Your Next Success!®
13
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
Alignment is everything
» Re-define until complete
> Lock down scope and schedule; manage risk, quality, and change aggressively
Inspiring Your Next Success!®
14
Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting