Reply to at least 2 of your classmates. Be constructive and professional in your responses.Reply to at least 2 of your Reply to at least 2 of your classmates. Be constructive and professional in yo

Reply to at least 2 of your classmates. Be constructive and professional in your responses.Reply to at least 2 of your 

Reply to at least 2 of your classmates. Be constructive and professional in your responses.

RESPOND 1 -IN YOUR OPINION (MIKE)

The Work Breakdown Structure is a key component in the development of any project. I have worked on many projects where variations of a work breakdown structure were used instead of the more traditional version covered in this course however, in the end, the same data was gathered and utilized to make decisions on if the project should proceed, what resources would be required, expenses expected to be incurred, and a timeline for completion. I am personally more familiar with a method utilizing epic, user story, and acceptance criteria however these align very closely to the large jobs, smaller tasks, and work packages in the traditional methods. The overall need of any project is to identify high-level needs, break those needs into smaller components that can be managed individually, and finally layout the work that needs to be performed or “work packages” that will give details on what needs to be accomplished and the requirements the individual deliverable must meet to fit into the bigger picture of the task and project. 

Business requirements tend to place a lot of pressure on the team and particularly on the team leader to ensure that work is completed on time, on budget, and to ensure the deliverable fits the need of the client. These requirements are sometimes the hardest commitments to get from a client since they tend to want every project done yesterday, at no cost, and blow away their wildest expectations. Technical requirements can also be unexpected causes for a project to be placed on hold while specific technological advances are worked out. In Product Management this is a common hurdle for any new product development team to overcome, we find that many of yesterday’s ideas were not possible because the technology simply did not exist at the time of conception. It is important to always look back and see what projects were placed on hold to know when it is appropriate to resume action.

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RESPOND 2 IN YOUR OPINION (MORIN)

A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is the #1 key component of any project. The WBS shows everything included everything related to completing the project successfully. The WBS includes the scope of the project which is a high level description of the project tasks required to reach the end goal of completing the project. The WBS also contains all estimates for the project as far as time to complete different tasks as well as the cost of the different aspects of the tasks.

The WBS also contains the organizational structure of the project. This lays out the mission and goal of the project as well as what it will take to produce each item. The WBS is also a place where the status of each task within the project is shown. This is a good way to keep track of where each item’s status is to ensure things stay on schedule.

The WBS breaks large projects into smaller sections of work to be completed. Having a solid WBS in place at the onset of a project can help in avoiding delays, costs getting out of hand as well as scope creep which is when a project expands due to changes and additions happening throughout the project

Project leaders should bring in other experts to assist in building out the WBS so that nothing is forgotten as project leaders can easily overlook an important aspect of the project. 

References

Cobb, A.T. (2012). Leading project teams: The basics of project management and team leadership (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Sage Publications

Work breakdown structure (WBS): The ultimate guide with examples. (2021, June 24). Retrieved from https://www.projectmanager.com/work-breakdown-structure