Effective Software Project Management

Verb-Type Approaches

Basically, there are two verb-type approaches:

• Design-build-test-implement— The design-build-test-implement approach is commonly used in those projects that involve a methodology, such as a software development methodology. Using the bicycle example again, you could use a variation on the classic waterfall categories. The categories are design, build, test, document, and implement. If you were to use this architecture for your WBS, then the bars on the Gantt Chart would all have lengths that correspond to the duration of each of the design, build, test, and implement activities and hence would be shorter than the bar representing the entire project. Most, if not all, would have differing start and end dates. Arranged on the chart, they would cascade in a stair-step manner, hence, the name waterfall. These are just representative categories; yours may be different. The point is that when the detail-level activity schedules are summarized up to them, they present a display of meaningful information to the recipient of the report.

  Remember that the WBS tasks, at the lowest levels of granularity, must always be expressed in verb form. After all, you are talking about work, and that implies action, and that implies verbs.

• Objectives— The objectives approach is similar to the design-build-test-implement approach and is used when progress reports at various stages of project completion are prepared for senior management. Reporting project completion by objectives gives ...