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CREATION OF A WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE AS A TEAM

In some projects it is necessary to plan work packages (WP) or subtasks [13]. These originate from the work breakdown structure (WBS), which represents all the activities of a project and has one central question: ‘What is to be done in our project?’. The WBS proves to be a valuable tool for organising a project into manageable work units and tasks. This prevents essential subtasks from being overlooked. In many complex projects, the WBS is the centrepiece and the central organising system for creating a clear structure.

Indications that it is necessary to create a WBS and define WPs are

  • overlapping, cost or time-intensive phases in the project,
  • concerns that it may not be possible to implement the project,
  • expected, possibly substantial risks.

Creation of the WBS as a team
Date of WBS creation, participants (if possible, involve staff who can contribute knowledge and experience i.e. competence from their specialist field).

Workshop procedure
The question for this workshop is ‘What needs to be done to solve the task?’. Please note: The answers to this question do not initially provide any information about the expected costs or the time required. The work breakdown structure contains neither project objectives nor process objectives. This information is derived from the defined work packages. Each team member writes down the answers to the question, whereby care should be taken to ensure that not only individual words are mentioned, but that key points or entire sentences are used (wrong: organisation chart, right: create organisation chart). This is a classic creativity technique, brainwriting. Of course, the first step can be underlaid with mind mapping, for example. All answers are then transferred to MetaPlan cards.
Individual work: 20 min

A moderator is nominated. They have to compile the individual team members' answers into clusters and define headings for each cluster. When all the topics have been clustered, another check is made to see whether any more headings or tasks will be necessary to ensure completeness.
Moderated team work: 25 min

In particularly critical projects, it can be helpful to create WBSs with different emphases (phase, function or object-oriented) to close any gaps that may exist.
Moderated team work: 25 min

Workshop follow-up
The work packages are delegated to the team members for precise definition [14].