Miller D.P. Building a Project Work Breakdown Structure: Visualizing Objectives, Deliverables, Activities, and Schedules

CRC Press, 2008. — 264 p. — (ESI International Project Management Series). — ISBN 978-1420069693, 1420069691.Most people do not truly understand a concept until they can visualize it. This applies to all fields, including Project Management. The best way to effectively manage projects is to help your team visualize the end result as well as the steps needed to achieve that result.
Help Your Team Visualize the Right Path to Success.Building a Project Work Breakdown Structure: Visualizing Objectives, Deliverables, Activities, and Schedules employs a diagram approach to project planning and scheduling. This useful tool empowers business professionals to take control of and successfully communicate their projects, ensuring they are completed on time with their targeted impact.Industry professional Dennis P. Miller, a consultant to leading Fortune 500 companies, thoroughly explains the keys to an effective Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) through an Eight Step Process. He has refined this process over a period of twenty years, applying it to over 100 projects ranging from software development to social events. The Eight Step Process starts with a concentrated effort to define the project through its deliverables. The middle steps walk the project team through a process of activity definition and sequencing and resource assignment. Finally, the last steps involve estimating the duration and verifying the project timeline.Preface: Why, How, and What I Developed.
Acknowledgments.
About the Author.
Opening.
Preplanning activities and issues.
Preplanning Issues.
Sources of Deliverables.
Timing of Planning Session.
Specific Preparations.
Executing the Eight step process.
Step 1: Find the Project's Deliverables.
Step 2: Build and Review the Initial Product Breakdown Structure (PBS).
Step 3: Building Down the PBS.
Step 4: Establishing the Activities.
Step 5: Building the Physical Logical Diagram (The Network).
Step 6: Assigning the Resources.
Step 7: Estimate the Durations.
Step 8: Verify the Project Timeline.
Post-planning activites.
Second Pass.
Manual Scheduling.
Scheduled Network.
Tracking and Reporting.
Resource Allocation.
Some basic project management issues.
Let's Practice Case Study Summary.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
Essay: The WBS - Worth a Second Look.
Index.