Having a breakdown of all the deliverables to ensure the success of a project serves the following benefits: This part of the article will focus on some of the benefits of WBS. Why Should Project Managers Prepare a Work Breakdown Structure? Even though the number of parent levels is not restricted, they need to be at least two. This explains why the elements are described as nouns and not verbs.Įven though this is not necessarily a rule like we have termed it, it is worth noting that every level of decomposition in the work breakdown structure must constitute 100% of the parent level. It is focused on the deliverables, which are normally the result of the work and not the activities needed to achieve these deliverables.
Like the name suggests, the WBS is outcome-focused. All elements at a given level must be mutually exclusive, which serves to prevent miscommunication and reduce instances of duplicate work. Like we mentioned, the WBS has different levels. This is important since it is only by executing these child levels will the parent element be successful. There are parent and child levels that are presented in a strict hierarchical relationship.
The Work Breakdown Structure is hierarchical. Characteristics of the Work Breakdown Structure
