Effective Software Project Management

Six Criteria to Test for Completeness in the WBS

Developing the WBS is the most critical part of the project planning activity. If this part is done correctly, the rest is comparatively easy. How do you know that you’ve done this right? You will if each activity possesses the six characteristics described as follows:

• Status/completion is measurable

• Start/end events are clearly defined

• Activity has a deliverable

• Time and cost are easily estimated

• Activity duration is within acceptable limits

• Work assignments are independent

If an activity does not possess all six of these characteristics, decompose the activity and ask the questions again. As soon as an activity possesses the six characteristics, you have no need to further decompose it. That activity can now be called a task. As soon as every activity in the WBS possesses these six characteristics, the WBS is defined as complete. The following sections look at each of these characteristics in more detail.

Start/Completion Is Measurable

The project manager must be able to ask for the status of an activity at any point in time when the activity is open for work. If the activity has been defined properly, that question is answered easily. The answer should consist of what has been done, how much time was required to complete the work, how much remains, and how long it will take to complete. If that information is not readily available, the activity needs to be further decomposed.

Start/End Events Are Clearly Defined

Each activity should ...