Assignment:
Guidelines for WBS" Please respond to the following:
• The Work Breakdown Structure is an essential tool for planning and managing the activities of a software project. Suggest three guidelines that may be used when developing a WBS. Explain why each guideline is critical to the development of the WBS.
• Analyze how each guideline identified in Part 1 of this discussion can enhance a project manager's ability to manage the project during the planning and controlling phases of the project.
Classmate:
• The Work Breakdown Structure is an essential tool for planning and managing the activities of a software project. Suggest three guidelines that may be used when developing a WBS. Explain why each guideline is critical to the development of the WBS.
o Always and forever, only put deliverables on the first couple levels of your WBS. An example is "Requirements Gathering" does not appear on Level 1 of a WBS but instead "Requirements Document" does. Only move from deliverables to tasks when you've pushed down several levels and have gotten to package so reasonably small and estimable that you can no longer restrain yourself.
o Each level of your WBS should be exhaustive: every level, on its own, is everything you need to deliver. The WBS exercise makes us think of completeness in a different way. It provides angle number 2 from which to view our planning. It is important that you review the WBS one level at a time. And on Level 1 you must push your team to accept that if it isn't fairly in any of the Level 1 elements, it isn't in the project. Making each level exhaustive helps the business spot problems. For instance, if you were migrating a call centre, the WBS might help you identify that a decommissioned incumbent is a necessary part of your scope.
o A WBS is not just about the core deliverables of a project: it is also for all internal deliverables. Level 1 should include Requirements Documents, Design Documents, Test Reports and Production Deployment Plan. Commonly, core deliverables will be less than half of a good WBS Level 1. But this can be overdone. You have to be the judge of whether every form demanded by a PMO should be considered an internal deliverable on your WBS. As a rule of thumb, if the document reflects a great deal of information, as Design Documents do, or underlying work, as Test Reports do, then include it. If it is only a process or approval form, exclude it.
https://www.captechconsulting.com/blogs/six-rules-for-a-good-work-breakdown-structure
• Analyze how each guideline identified in Part 1 of this discussion can enhance a project manager's ability to manage the project during the planning and controlling phases of the project.
By following these guidelines, the project manager can measure and identify the three constraints i.e cost, scope and time easily. The outcome after designing the WBS based on these rules is a simple and easy to understand template that allows project managers to plan project and efficiently divide the subtasks to the members accordingly. It also acts as the reminder for the documents required and the tasks to be done.