The Stress Equation

Structure the Work

We don’t talk about Work Breakdown Structures (WBSs) the way we used to—particularly in the Agile community. WBSs are ways to visualize work by breaking it down into hierarchical trees. Perhaps we bundle them with the memories of UML schemas, GANTT charts, artifact lists, and other fun documents we used to do in proper Waterfall projects. You know, way back when we wrote the code three times in different charts and specs before we actually wrote the code—and then realized it wouldn’t work.

Those were the days! (I am, of course, kidding.)

However, visualization and structuring of work are often neglected art forms, something we would do well to spend more time on in the Agile world. There is a widespread idealistic tendency ...