Project Management Institute Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures

Project Management Institute Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures | Project Management Institute | Every Project Manager needs the info on pages 11-18.

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	Project Management Institute Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures Project Management Institute Project Management Institute, 2001 - 79 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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This is the first practice standard that the Project Management Institute (PMI®) has developed to complement and elaborate on the information contained in its de facto global standard for the profession, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) ? 2000 Edition. It provides guidance and universal principles for the initial generation, subsequent development, and application of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Successful project management uses planning techniques to define the project objectives in sufficient detail to support effective management of the project. The WBS provides the foundation for defining work as it relates to project objectives and establishes the structure for managing the work to its completion. Each descending level of a WBS represents an increasingly detailed definition of the project work.

This PMI standard provides an introduction to the WBS concept, defines the WBS and its characteristics, discusses the benefits of using a WBS, and demonstrates how to build a WBS and determine if it is sufficient for subsequent planning and control. A unique feature of this handbook is the inclusion of 11 industry-specific WBS examples. Constituting over half of the book, these examples aid the reader in further understanding, creating, and using WBSs in the following industries or applications:

-Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical (OGP)
-Environmental Management
-Process Improvement
-Pharmaceutical
-Process Plant Construction

-Service Industry Outsourcing
-Web Design
-Telecommunications
-Refinery Turnaround
-Government Design-Bid-Build
-Software Implementation

Examples are in different stages of completion and represent the evolutionary development of a WBS. None of the examples should be taken as the only right WBS for that type of project. This is the first-of-its-kind Practice Standard from the world?s largest professional association for project management. It will enable project managers, project team leaders, contract personnel, and others interested in managing any aspect of a project to prepare a useful and high quality Work Breakdown Structure.

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80 page guide to an important topic

The four chapters in this short, focused book introduce work breakdown structures, define them from a conceptual point of view, explain why they are the foundation of project planning, and show how to create one. These chapters comprise a scant 18 pages, but are thorough enough to accomplish the objective of explaining the Project Management Institute's practice standards for WBS.

The real value of the book is contained in appendices E through O, in which a WBS for common industry project types are given as examples. These 44 pages are the real reason to buy the book because they show real examples of the conceptual and brief "how to" approach compressed into the first 18 pages. The project types in these appendices are:
E - Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical (OGP)
F - Environmental Management
G - Process Improvement
H - Pharmaceutical
I - Process Plant Construction
J - Service Industry Outsourcing
K - Web Design
L - Telecom
M - Refinery Turnaround
N - Government Design-Bid-Build
O - Software Implementation

Appendices A-D are filler that descripe the PMI standards process and associated information, and can be safely skipped unless you are interested in those topics.

Overall this is a much needed book because WBS are still skipped during the project planning phase in too many projects. This is unfortunate because the first thing that a professional does when called in to rescue a project is to examine the WBS, and if there isn't one, the first step towards rescuing a project is to develop one. By following this book, especially if any of the example WBS is similar to your project, will go a long way towards ensuring its success.

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Every Project Manager needs the info on pages 11-18.

If you just read Chapter 4 (pages 11-18, that's 8 pages) of this book, you can glean the essence of this entire 80 page book. This chapter contains valuable details relating to creating a WBS. This chapter explains the process of coming up with a WBS for your project. This information is not availabe at this level of detail in many other books. And more importantly, these details came out after an extensive effort by PMI (this effort is described in Appendix A-D). No project manager can afford to do work without being familiar with the information in this book. The first three chapters are short and serve as an introduction to what a WBS is and it's value on any project. If you are a PMP, you already know this information and you can gloss over these chapters. If you are new to project management, these first three chapters are as valuable as the fourth chapter because they lay the foundation for understanding how to do a WBS.

Appendix E-O outline sample WBS for different industries. I am familiar with the Web Design and Software Development fields and I can definitely say that these are too basic to be of any use unless you are a new project manager in these fields. I cannot speak to the value of the sample WBS for other industries but I am guessing you would probably have access to better sample WBS in your own company. There are vendors like IIL (International Institute of Learning) selling better templates of these WBS in the form of project schedules for various industries. It may be worthwhile looking in that direction if you are trying to collect these.

The whole book is a free Acrobat download from PMI if you are a member. The print function on this download is disabled though so if you want a copy for your desk collection, you have to buy this print edition.

As a final note, this is a very valuable contribution from PMI. I have visited too many clients where project schedules are glorified 'task lists' derived from wishful thinking. These then get put on a calendar and the client is satisfied that they have a 'project plan'. I had always wished that somebody had already educated the clients on the importance of a deliverable driven approach to project planning (WBS serves this function). As a project manager working for a consulting company, it becomes your job to do this. I plan on using this book as a baseline to achieve this purpose (hand out a copy to the client and take it from there). This book is simple enough that I believe it would accomplish the purpose.

So, at the very least, download the electronic copy and buy this print edition when you get a chance. I hope you found the information in this review helpful. And more importantly, I hope you find the information in the book even more helpful (as I did). Good luck!

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