Why Is the WBS Important?

The Project Management Institute (PMI) considers the WBS the most important tool of the project manager. Why?

More than any other project management tool, the WBS provides the foundation for defining and organizing the work needed to fulfill the project objectives. Through the WBS, the work to produce the targeted deliverables is structured, assigned, scheduled, tracked, and reported. Through the WBS, the work of the project is effectively represented and communicated to all stakeholders. A well-done WBS accomplishes the following objectives for the project manager:

 Tip

A well-done WBS can become a template for similar, future projects.

• Manage the pieces—It provides a mechanism to manage any project size or complexity. Through decomposition, you can manage the pieces (work packages) rather than the whole project.
• Better work definition, fewer changes—It enables identification of all necessary work for the project and only the necessary work. It also reduces the number of items that slip through the cracks as well as the “Oh, I didn’t think of that!” moments.
• Better estimates, better planning—It improves the accuracy of cost, duration, and resource estimates.
• Better control—It defines a baseline for performance measurement and control.
• Clear responsibilities—It facilitates clear responsibility assignments at both an individual and an organizational level. NoteMajor deliverables should come from the project definition document and are likely second-level WBS elements.There is no one way to organize a WBS. It should be organized in a manner that emphasizes the most important aspects and that best communicates the entire scope of the project to your stakeholders.
• Stakeholder buy-in on scope work effort—It facilitates understanding and buy-in of the project scope, the project approach, the work effort involved, and alignment between scope and work from each stakeholder.
• Tighter management integration—It provides a mechanism to relate the work directly to schedule, budget, and resource allocation plans.
• Better team performance—It enables team members to easily understand how their work fits into the overall project, how it affects the work of other team members, and to stay focused on deliverables.
• Risk factors identified early—Through decomposition of the work, a more complete and effective risk analysis can be performed during project planning.
• Confidence increases—When people see that the work of the project is structured, definable, and doable, their confidence level in the project increases.