Mike Stankiewicz -- DNSC 261 -- Fall 2010 Semester -- WBS Extra Credit Assignment

Project Objective -- Paint the master bedroom walls and trim moldings in my residence.

Five Criteria for a Good WBS

1. Set up so that tasks/activities, etc. are independent.
2. Allows assignment of responsibilities.
3. Defines activities/tasks to ensure they are measurable.
4. Provides a “road map” of activities that can be used for briefings and feedback from the team.
5. Provides a logical breakdown of high level tasks to manageable tasks.

Work Breakdown Structure

Number Description
1.0 Project Paint Master Bedroom
1.1 Consultation with Wife
1.1.1 Select Wall Color
1.1.2 Select Trim Color
1.2 Materials
1.2.1 Buy Paint
1.2.2 Buy Brushes and Rollers
1.2.3 Buy Paint Stripper
1.2.4 Buy Filler
1.3 Room Prep
1.3.1 Remove Pictures
1.3.2 Furniture
1.3.2.1 Move Furniture to Room Center
1.3.2.2 Cover Furniture
1.3.3 Cover Carpet
1.3.4 Walls/Trim
1.3.4.1 Wash/Strip Walls/Trim
1.3.4.2 Fill in Cracks
1.3.4.3 Tape Outlets and Walls/Trim
1.4 Paint Room
1.4.1 Paint Walls
1.4.2 Paint Trim
1.5 Post-Painting
1.5.1 Clean Rollers and Brushes
1.5.2 Remove Tape
1.5.3 Remove Covers
1.5.4 Hang Pictures
1.5.5 Move Furniture

Critique of a Team Member’s WBS

Your project objective is concise, well-stated, and is 25 words or less. Your five criteria are similar to
mine and represent what we should look for in a good WBS. The graphic WBS shows well and is easily
understandable.
My criteria for a good WBS are stated below and my critique of yours is in red.
1. Set up so that tasks/activities, etc. are independent. Your breakdown of the Beer process is clear to
me, with the lowest level tasks clearly being different. They are independent from the rest in that they
are unique with regard to others at this level, and do not appear to overlap functionality.
2. Allows assignment of responsibilities. The tasks are spelled out clearly and are separate from others
at the lowest levels. This allows understanding of what is required to accomplish the task, and therefore,
the specific skill set that needs to perform the work.
3. Defines activities/tasks to ensure they are measurable. The activities/tasks at the third and fourth
levels are actions to be taken to meet requirements. Each is separate in terms of functionality and based
on their names, they should be easily measurable in terms of skills needed to be assigned, and for
determining level of effort to complete.
4. Provides a “road map” of activities that can be used for briefings and feedback from the team. The
work activities flow down logically and provide an excellent pictorial representation of what needs to be
done, starting from the highest levels on down. Any sequence of high-level activities on down to the
lowest can be evaluated easily by upper management on down to teams looking at specific logical tasks.
This could be used to brief anyone on the steps needed to be taken, and to elicit feedback leading to
successful completion.
5. Provides a logical breakdown of high level tasks to manageable tasks. See 4. above. The high level
activities incorporate many tasks. They are graphically spelled out in the chart with logical
decomposition down to the lowest levels which show great specificity and uniqueness (independence
and measurability). The lowest levels appear to be easily managed.

Critique of my WBS by Team member

The WBS falls within the five criteria I established, which are:

1. Ensure success can be defined for each deliverable.

2. Easy to read.
3. Project should be broken down into small, meaningful, manageable units of work.
4. Assign resources you have control of to tasks you have control of.
5. Only have as much detail as required to track and status the project.

For Criteria 1, how success is defined is dependent on what the PM chooses to use as the standard of
measurement. If we take “Paint Walls” as an example, we can define success as having 100% of the
walls completely painted within the time frame that’s allotted for this task.

The tabular form of this WBS adheres to Criteria 2 and makes it easy to follow through the different
levels. In addition to the numbering system, the spacing of the tabs for each of the levels makes it easy
for the reader to discern one level from another.

Each unit of work outlined in the WBS meets Criteria 3. Tasks such as “Remove Tape,” “Buy Paint,”
and “Fill in Cracks” are small enough and manageable in their own right. Such tasks are easy to
understand as well and leave little room for misinterpretation.

As outlined in Criteria 4, the PM appears to have control of every task outlined in the WBS. The only
possible exceptions are “Select Wall Color” and “Select Trim Color” since these tasks require
consultation with the wife. If there is disagreement on the color, the PM won’t have any control of
resources until an agreement is reached.

Criteria 5 is met as illustrated by the descriptive detail within the WBS without bogging down and
convoluting the entire structure.