Flaw #8 Work Breakdown Structure
The Work Breakdown Structure is a great concept. The Flaw is not the concept, it is how schedulers perceived the WBS. Some schedulers make good use of the WBS, but ignore activity coding while others rely on Activity Codes exclusively without due consideration to the WBS and still others ignore both. It is always disconcerting to open a project schedule and find that the WBS is only one level, the project title. It is equally disconcerting to open a project schedule and find that the WBS has too many levels. It is heartening to open a project schedule and find ample project activity codes and at least three to four levels in the WBS. Four Levels is a good limit, because stretching the WBS to five and beyond levels makes the schedule printout cumbersome, tiring, and filled with activities that have no WBS assignments. It is also, a big waste of colored ink and paper. Instead of too many levels, use the WBS in combination with the activity codes that give flexibility and more often than not, simplifies the printout. The schedule is for the use of all, not the one.