97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know

Chapter 70. A Project Is the Pursuit of a Solution

PhD (ABD), PMP. Cynthia A. Berg

AUTHOR STEPHEN COVEY STATES, "BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND." And what is a project, except the pursuit of an end solution? The best way to conceptualize the end of a software project is to create a work breakdown structure (WBS). The WBS is a hierarchical view, which shows the entire scope of the project broken down into deliverables,^[22] much like an organizational chart shows company divisions broken into departments and then work teams. The deliverables are then divided into smaller and smaller components until they get to the work package^[23] level.

Include the team, sponsors, and other stakeholders when creating a WBS. This ensures that the work of the project is fully defined and represents the needs of all of the participants. Why include the team? Well, who knows the work that needs to be done better than the project team members who will actually do those tasks? Projects are doomed to fail when the project manager assumes that he/she alone knows how to list every facet of the work of the project.

While creating a WBS, the team has an opportunity to challenge the norms of "how we've always done it." Plus, team members are formulating a shared opinion on what constitutes the work of the project. This method ensures that they will have more buy-in for the effort. After all, it's always more interesting ...