Answer Discussion Questions And Respond To Students Discussion Questions

The Work Breakdown Structure

A work breakdown structure (WBS) breaks down all of the work defined in the scope of the project into manageable tasks. It focuses on the deliverables, the personnel who will create these products and the timing of tasks. The WBS can be organized in several ways. Each of the deliverables can be broken down into its components. For example, the delivery of a statewide GIS demographic survey may be broken down by county. Alternatively, the deliverables can be broken down into phases. For example, the demographic survey may involve data collection, data input, data verification, data formatting, analysis and display, with each phase having associated deliverables. Finally, a WBS may be organized around the project management process groups we discussed in Lesson 2. In this case, deliverables may be associated with initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing the project.

A WBS may be in any format that clearly defines tasks, deliverables, and timing. One popular format, the Gantt chart, makes a list of project activities leading to deliverables along with the corresponding start and finish date. Project activities are listed separately on individual rows, and time intervals are delineated moving down these rows.

The project activities in a Gantt chart are organized into a hierarchy of levels. Level 0 generally represents the entire project. Level 1 represents the major products, summary tasks, or phases of the project, as listed above. These levels continue to increase as project activities are broken into more and more manageable pieces of work. When project activities have been broken down into the smallest desired tasks or work packages , the WBS has achieved its most detailed level corresponding to the highest numbered level.

A work package may take anywhere from a day to a week to several weeks to complete. It shouldn’t be so small as to be trivial, nor should it be so large that it is composed of several deliverables. If you work with a Gantt chart in Microsoft Project, you will enter duration times for these work packages. It is important to have good estimates of how long individual task will truly take to complete. The best source for this information is input from team members who have worked on identical or similar tasks in the past.

The WBS is often created by one of three approaches. The analogy approach uses a similar WBS as a starting point. If you are working for a consulting firm that does similar projects for the same client, this approach may be simple and effective. Such an approach is greatly facilitated if the consulting firm keeps good records and has archives of past projects.

The top-down approach begins with the final or largest deliverables. Then, all of the components that make up these deliverables are identified. This process continues to greater and greater detail until all work packages are identified. A project manager attempting to do this alone had better have significant experience or technical background in all aspects of the project. Input from technical team members can also be vital, especially as project activities are mapped to lower and lower levels.

The bottom-up approach would involve intense team participation. Members would begin by identifying as many specific tasks as possible, and then grouping these tasks into larger project activities. These project activities could then be grouped into more and more comprehensive activities, until the final deliverables for the project are planned. This approach can be a very effective for scope and time planning because it can potentially involve input and consensus from the entire team. For the same reasons, however, it can be a very time consuming process for putting together a WBS.

If only one individual is working on a project, time management for the project is trivial. Simply sum all time intervals necessary to complete all work packages, and the timeframe for the project is set. If a team of individuals is working on the project, however, timing becomes more interesting due to dependencies of work packages.

DISCUSSION 1

“Work Breakdown Structure”  Please respond to the following:

*From the e-Activity, scenario, and Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ Website, examine the process of subdivision of activities and events that compose the tree diagram known as the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) or Gozinto chart. Next, explain the reason(s) why at levels 4-6 of the WBS, as discussed in the Kerzner text, templates may not be appropriate. Provide a rationale for your response.

 

Prepare an argument for or against the functional manager’s role in establishing the first three (3) levels of the WBS. Support your position with a real-world example.

DISCUSSION #1 RESPONDS TO STUDENT DISCUSSION

Student #1 Jonique 

*From the e-Activity, scenario, and Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ Website, examine the process of subdivision of activities and events that compose the tree diagram known as the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) or Gozinto chart. Next, explain the reason(s) why at levels 4-6 of the WBS, as discussed in the Kerzner text, templates may not be appropriate. Provide a rationale for your response.

The process of subdivision of activities and events that compose the tree diagram known as the Work Breakdown Structre (WBS) can be very complex or pretty simple. Project manager’s can chose one of three approaches to begin the process of creating their WBS; analgoy approach, top-down approach or bottom-up approach. The analogy approach can be used if similar projects have been completed and a template in already in place. The top-down approach basically starts from the end of the structure leading to the beginning, meaning, the final deliverables or the largest ones are focused on first. All of the components are worked out before moving up the chart to the nect level. The final approach is bottom-up. This approach involves the entire PM team and is very miticulous in process as all the specific tasks are identified then grouped into larger activities. Levels 4-6 of the WBS templates are the technical levels thus templates may not be appropriate as they can be time consuming and very costly. Breaking the work down to the smallest work packages creates the need for more databases which then requires more man-power hours and more money being spent.

Prepare an argument for or against the functional manager’s role in establishing the first three (3) levels of the WBS. Support your position with a real-world example.

The functional manager’s role in establishing the first three levels of the WBS are very vital to the entire project. The first levels include the authorization and release of all work, budgets and scheduling. Without these the project is at a standstill because it would have no clearance. With any project there has to be a plan implemented so all team members know their roll, understand what their salaries will be and when they will be working.

Student #2 cindy

*From the e-Activity, scenario, and Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ Website, examine the process of subdivision of activities and events that compose the tree diagram known as the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) or Gozinto chart. Next, explain the reason(s) why at levels 4-6 of the WBS, as discussed in the Kerzner text, templates may not be appropriate. Provide a rationale for your response.

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) breaks a project down into manageable pieces in order to identify and cover all elements required to complete a project.   It’s broken down in to a hierarchical tree of tasks or work packages.  Each work package identifies a task or a person responsible for a particular part of the project.  There are typically three approaches to designing a WBS. There is an analogy approach. This approach is often used by contractors or consultants who typically service the same types of projects.  This type of approach simplifies the process once a template is defined. Another approach is the top-down approach. In this type of approach the project manager generally defines the level 1 deliverables.  All the other tasks then fall under the appropriate category in level 2 and 3. This type of approach requires the project manager to be fairly knowledgeable of all the project requirements.  The third approach is the bottom-up approach. This approach is exemplified in our scenario. All the tasks of the project are identified and then put in order and grouped into comprehensive groups leading up to the level  1 deliverables.

Levels 1-3 are typically higher level tasks that are not specifically tied to departments but over-arching efforts that control the entire project. These are often defined by the customer or project initiator.  The latter 3 levels, levels 3-6 are more task-oriented and specific.  As the project breakdown works down tree levels the tasks become more defined within departments in subtasks. These subtasks are very specific and should be completed by those that do the work and are controlled in-house.

•Prepare an argument for or against the functional manager’s role in establishing the first three (3) levels of the WBS. Support your position with a real-world example.

The WBS serves to communicate information about the project. Including functional managers at the first levels in the WBS serves the project well.  Functional managers control the resources and training need to complete a project. The more information this group has at the overall requirements level the better they will understand the importance and the needs of the project.  Functional managers take part of the responsibility of the success of the project so they would need to be at the authorization level.

The functional manager assigning human resources to a project for example would need to function at the level 1 – 3 stages in order to oversee and report on human capital.

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DISCUSSION 2

Total Project Planning” Please respond to the following:

Sometimes project plans fail because simple details are forgotten or overlooked.  State three (3) reasons for project plans failing and explain the rationale for your selection. Next, discuss the roles of the project manager and project executive sponsor in ensuring the success of project plans.  Provide a rationale for your response.

 

The subdivided work description (SWD) as proposed by the Kerzner text is one (1) of the key elements in the planning of a program. Review the planning cycle of a management cost and control system as described in Figure 11-10 of the Kerzner text, outline key steps in the project planning process of a current or past project, and determine the project manager-line manager interface in developing contractual guidelines and work requirements for that project. Provide a rationale for your response.

DISCUSSION #2 RESPONDS TO STUDENT DISCUSSION

Student #1 travis

Sometimes project plans fail because simple details are forgotten or overlooked.  State three (3) reasons for project plans failing and explain the rationale for your selection. Next, discuss the roles of the project manager and project executive sponsor in ensuring the success of project plans.  Provide a rationale for your response.

Scheduling, assigning employees, and resources.  Following a schedule that employs the timing of deliveries as well as the deadline of each employee’s job in the project is important.  If the scheduled delivery is late, it can hold up production of the entire project.  Scheduling can also be used to keep track of what is going on and who the project manager would need to call to ensure deliveries are coming on time.  Employee conflicts can cause a project to fail mostly because each team member wants to work on certain parts of the project.  This is avoided with linear management and assigning team members with their responsibilities.  Resources and support is important to completion.  With no workers or the needed materials for the project, completion would be very difficult.  The project manager must make sure the project is on schedule with informing any problems that the project manager cannot solve reported to the project executive sponsor.  The executive sponsor would have to get help from the CEO to get the project completed.

 

The subdivided work description (SWD) as proposed by the Kerzner text is one (1) of the key elements in the planning of a program. Review the planning cycle of a management cost and control system as described in Figure 11-10 of the Kerzner text, outline key steps in the project planning process of a current or past project, and determine the project manager-line manager interface in developing contractual guidelines and work requirements for that project. Provide a rationale for your response.

Most are key steps in the planning process that covers all possible problems but also deals with every aspect that comes with the project.  Work description prevents conflicts between team members and avoids team members to figure out their responsibilities.  Master schedule keeps track of shipments of materials as well as deadlines for team members for completion of their duties.  A budget keeps the project manager from overspending and helps distributes money to needed sections.  These are important and needed to deal with a project.

Student #2 carla

Inevitably sometimes projects fail. There are several reasons why they fail, three of the most common reasons are corporate goals are not understood at all levels, insufficient financial estimates, and staffing requirements.  When corporate goals are not understood at all levels communication breaks down.  When a project is initiated certain goals are expected. However, as the WBS is developed sub-goals are created within tasks and these can often conflict with the over-all goal of the project. This could derail the project.  It is the responsibility of the project manager to be able to identify when projects begin derail and lose focus on the corporate goals. The project manager needs to communicate with the executive leaders who are able to ensure cooperation and enable the project manager to take corrective action when things begin to move in another direction. Insufficient Financial Estimates is a major source of project failure.   When a project starts to exceed beyond projected budgets this places the project and the organization in danger. When financial estimates start to escalate this is the time for the project manager to begin communicating to upper level managers about the situation. Remember to communicate bad news first! In these times of doing more with less a project could very easily get derailed if the proper staffing requirements are not clearly identified.  Executive sponsors should work to ensure the project manager has access to the proper resources for the project. Project managers need to work with the executive sponsors to create progress reports that target when staffing issues arise.

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