Defining Project Work - Simplified!

The Project Management Mini-Series

Defining Project Work – Simplified!

Michael B Bender

The Project Management Mini-Series

Defining Project Work - Simplified!

Published: June, 2014

© 2014 Michael B. Bender. All rights reserved.

Published by: Ally Publishing Group, Sugar Grove, IL 60554

Defining Project Work - Simplified!

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Michael B. Bender

PMI, PMP and PMBOK are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Newtown Square, PA.

Microsoft Project is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Printed in the United States of America. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, manual, photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN-10: 1-940441-09-9

ISBN-13: 978-1-940441-09-2

Dedication

To my brother David, who put up with all my issues and never gave up on me.

Preface

About the Series

I specifically designed the Project Management Mini-Series for busy project managers. Project management is a vast topic. While no particular aspect of project management is difficult, mastering all the necessary skills to make a project successful just takes time.

You’ll face many issues in your journey to master the discipline; some you’ll handle nicely, but some will involve skills that may be new to you. You’ll want professional-level answers to specific project management questions quickly. I designed the Project Management Mini-Series for just such occasions.

The books are short, inexpensive, written for professional project managers and designed to be easy-to-read. They get to the point, demonstrate how to apply the skill, they offer tools and techniques and then allow you to get on your way.

The series is not just for new project managers. I include three levels of books, color-coding the levels for quick recognition:

- Simplified! (Hunter Green) For new or novice project managers

- Skilled (Royal Blue) for novice to moderate skill levels

- Advanced (Gold) for more advanced techniques

Some key features I included in the books:

· Templates, forms, charts and checklists with descriptions on how to use them.

· You can download electronic copies of the templates, forms and other tools for project management on my company’s web site: www.AllyBusiness.com/PMTools/, adjust them for your own style and use them.

· Download specific forms, images and samples from books at bookStuff.AllyBusiness.com/DPW_Simplified.

· Tricks of the Trade is a section I include in each book. This section offers specific techniques I and many of my colleagues used to accomplish the goals and tasks involved in the topic.

I hope you find the series useful. Please feel free to e-mail me with comments and suggestions. I set up a special e-mail address for this series: [email protected].

About the Book

I selected this topic as the second book in the series since defining the work is the heart of project management. Defining the work required to complete the project successfully is likely the single most important activity in project management. Certainly, you can’t develop the work without clear objectives and requirements, or understanding your stakeholders; but get this wrong, and your project will always be a challenge. Get it right, and the rest of the project can fall into place very nicely.

In this book, we address simple, practical and easily-implemented steps to defining project work. Formally called the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), the work becomes the core of the project. Once created, it drives all aspects of the project, from risk