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Assignment 4

The document discusses key points about developing a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for projects. It notes that a WBS is useful for large, complex projects with many activities and people. It then outlines several important things learned about creating a WBS, including that determining resource needs comes before allocating resources, and that internal resources are easier to incorporate than external ones. The document also discusses task types like parallel and dependent tasks, and notes that milestones are not included in the WBS.

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30 views

Assignment 4

The document discusses key points about developing a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for projects. It notes that a WBS is useful for large, complex projects with many activities and people. It then outlines several important things learned about creating a WBS, including that determining resource needs comes before allocating resources, and that internal resources are easier to incorporate than external ones. The document also discusses task types like parallel and dependent tasks, and notes that milestones are not included in the WBS.

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Rawr rawr
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MODULE 4: ASSIGNMENT

For our first module in the midterm period, we have discussed the important key points in

assembling your plan particularly through the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS is

a useful tool for large or complex projects that have a lot of activities and require weeks or

months of work from multiple individuals. Understanding the qualities of a WBS document is

crucial before developing one. To be effective, every WBS should follow a set of design

principles (Izquierdo, 2020). Therefore, what I learned in the said topic comprises of the

following:

● Firstly, I learned that it is a chicken-versus-egg situation when it comes to creating your

work breakdown schedule (WBS) and actually starting project activities. At first, I am

actually confused upon reading the term “chicken vs egg” and according to my additional

readings, a chicken-and-egg situation is one where it is impossible to say which of two

things happened first or caused the other to happen. Hence, there are numerous chicken-

versus-egg challenges to overcome while putting together your WBS, such as whether to

map your own actions as a project manager and whether to include planning as a job.

● Also, many experts recommend that you first identify staffing resources before moving on to

the WBS. Pertinent to that, the ability to allocate personnel as needed comes first, followed

by money allocations. This is actually sensible because you would not be able to allocate

staff hours unless you know exactly what has to be done right? In contrast with that, various

experts advise that the WBS should be created irrespective of staffing levels. Here, you

determine what needs to be done and then gather the necessary personnel resources in

accordance with the plan you've devised. Hence, the latter is more widely accepted since it is
a sensible method to set out and put together your plan—you identify needs first, then

allocate appropriate staff resources.

● Moreover, I also learned about internal versus external resources. Resources are basically

the assets that are being used in the duration of a project and these are very important to

evaluate in the field of project management. The construction of a WBS, as difficult as it

may appear, is quite uncomplicated when most of the resources being utilized are internal

or simply, located within the firm such as your personnel, equipment, and other project-

supporting components. On the other hand, when the majority of your resources are

regarded as external or outside your organization's premises, it is more difficult to budget,

schedule, and incorporate at the proper time. Additionally, it might also be claimed that

supervising the work of external suppliers, consultants, or additional workers is more

difficult than supervising the work of internal employees. External human resources, on the

other hand, who are paid hourly or daily, have a tremendous incentive to perform brilliantly,

on time, every time.

● Furthermore, I have also understood the various kinds of tasks constituting a WBS.

Parallel tasks can be completed concurrently with other tasks without jeopardizing the

project's progress. On the other hand, Dependent tasks are those that must wait for

something else to happen before they can begin, hence, such tasks cannot commence until a

predecessor task, or many predecessor tasks, have been completed, whereas a predecessor

task must be completed before another work may begin. A good example here is a building

construction.

● The next thing that I learned is that the WBS isn't a good way to figure out how

interdependent tasks are related. When creating a WBS outline, think of it like a tree
diagram where you wish to go in chronological order. Hence, a comprehensive WBS takes

into account task sequence and interdependence. As a result, it can be used to construct a

network diagram.

● Also, I learned that milestones are not included in the WBS because they reflect the

culmination of events and actions leading up to them and hence, they don't always

necessitate time or money. Accordingly, a milestone is a symbol of achievement, and it may

or may not correspond to a delivery, but they are important because they provide a visual

line of demarcation, which is especially important for project team members.

● Once the WBS is finalized and approved, monitoring progress becomes your major job for

the life of the project. Therefore, in simpler terms, after you've nailed down the WBS, you'll

go from planning to monitoring mode.

Therefore, taking on a large or difficult job might be daunting. Any project with

numerous elements or people may rapidly miss deadlines or exceed budgets. Thus, you must

incorporate the important concepts in project management for every project venture you pursue.

These initiatives necessitate a road map to the project's goal, one that takes into account factors

like how long it will take, financial issues, and a clear path to completion. That's where project

management's work breakdown structure (WBS) comes in.

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