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In this final part of the series on creating your Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) we present a checklist of good practices and things you should look out for when preparing your next WBS. If you can answer ‘yes’ to most of these questions, then you’re well on the way to becoming a skilled creator of Work Breakdown Structures.

Here we go:

1. Did you create the WBS with the assistance of your project team?
2. Has the entire scope of the project been included?
3. Are there complete deliverables in the WBS?
4. Is each deliverable unique?
5. Does the WBS have the right level of detail?
6. Are milestones included?
7. Have you included project management activities?
8. Have you included risk mitigation tasks?
9. Have you identified an owner for every task?
10. Have you used a simple verb-noun format to describe the tasks?

Continuing with the post on creating a WBS:

1. Assemble the project team and all contributors including people from functional departments and supporting organisations, and any other stakeholders who can assist with understanding the project
2. Get all the relevant documents from the project initiation phase, including the Project Charter and the overall project objective
3. Use an existing template if available
4. Identify all the deliverables and the work that must be done to produce them, and decompose the work through multiple levels into subsets of the major deliverables
5. Continue with the breakdown until the lowest-level work-packages are:

• Small. Typically, the lowest-level package of work should be between about 1% and 10% of the overall project estimated duration
• Measurable, with clear completion criteria
• Assignable to a single owner

Decide how you want to monitor and control the project work, and use this as a way of designing the major headings in the WBS, choosing from the options below:

1. By project Life-Cycle Phase (design, build, test etc.)
2. Using Major Deliverables as the first level (hardware, software, support equipment, training etc.)

Although not strictly a WBS, it is also possible to break down the work by following your Organizational Breakdown Structure, or  “OBS”:

1. By Functional Department (Engineering, Production, Marketing, Finance etc.)
2. By Geographical Location (Singapore, Bangalore etc.)
3. By Skill-Set or Discipline (Programming, marketing, painting etc.)

Here’s an example of a WBS created by Life-Cycle Phase:

And here’s the same work represented by a WBS by Major Deliverables:

When planning a project, we need to know exactly what is – and is not – included within that project. Very simple projects can often be defined and planned using a simple checklist, for example:

• Choose holiday destination
• Book flight
• Pack suitcase
• Go on holiday

Larger projects will benefit from rearranging the checklist in a structured way, so that we can easily see the entire scope of the project without getting confused by all those points in a randomly ordered checklist.

The process of defining what we will be doing on our project is known as Scope Definition, and we perform this using a Work Breakdown Structure, or WBS.

The WBS  details all the items of work  and all the outputs (or ‘deliverables’)we will be producing. The WBS is structured such that high-level items are broken-down, or ‘decomposed’ into lower level items in multiple levels. This work is usually identified by brainstorming with your team, and using lists from previous projects.

The WBS can receive information from:

• Project Scope Statement
• Requirements Documentation

The WBS provides information to:

• Activity List and Activity Cost Estimates
• Network Diagram
• Project Budget
• Quality Management Plan
• Risk Register
• Procurement Management Plan
• Project Management Plan

Benefits of using a WBS are as follows:

• Divides the project scope into logical, manageable, definable packages of work that enable management at an appropriate and effective level.
• An aid in communication with stakeholders, assisting them in developing a clear vision of the end product of the project and of the overall process by which it will be created.
• Assists in clearly identifying responsibility and accountability to the level of detail required for managing and controlling the project.
• Identifies the impact of changes to the project work.
• Helps the project team to understand their work and the impact on the whole project.
• Helps with team-building, as the project team members give their input for the design of the WBS.
• Used as a basis for estimating resources, time, and cost.
• Used for identifying risk by work package, for risk mitigation.

The Work Breakdown Structure, or WBS, is an extremely important document, and allows for people and other resources to be assigned, budgeted and scheduled.

In the The next posting we will examine several different ways that a WBS can be structured.

In a recent Project Management Institute (PMI) “pulse survey” on the global economic outlook, survey respondents from over 35 countries highlighted that project risk management or risk-related skills will be in more demand as a result of the current global financial situation.

In a separate report by The Economist Intelligence Unit, a business-to-business arm of The Economist Group which publishes The Economist Newspaper, survey respondents also point to the identification of new risks as the most important role and responsibility of risk management.

The report findings highlighted the need for companies to allocate sufficient and skilled professionals to risk management activities.  On the other hand, organizations are also facing huge pressures to keep costs under control.  Confronted by these competing objectives, risk management professionals are posed a rare and valuable opportunity to make themselves indispensable to the future of the business by creating an effective and comprehensive risk management strategy for their business.

In line with the role delineation study report by PMI, these findings point to an urgent need for project management professionals to improve their knowledge and skills in the specialized area of assessing and identifying project risks while mitigating threats and capitalizing on opportunities.

As a very timely response, the PMI-Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP^®) credential was introduced last year to recognize the demonstrated knowledge and expertise of project risk management professionals.

Sources:

PMI Pulse Survey – Global Economic Outlook by R.E.P.s (October, 2009)

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU): Risk management in neglect (October, 2009)

Negotiation is one of the key skills needed by Project Managers (as indeed is the skill of carrying a laptop computer around all day to perch on a convenient ledge – see picture).

An article in Psychological Science offers the latest research and some good advice that we can use in our negotiations.

Psychologist Adam Galinsky from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University of Illinois and his colleagues examined two related approaches to understanding one’s opponent in negotiations: perspective-taking and empathy. Perspective-taking is described as the cognitive power to consider issues from somebody else’s viewpoint (also known as ‘re-framing’), whereas empathy is the power to connect emotionally with people.

They conducted a series of experiments to test whether perspective-taking or empathy was the more useful technique, by enlisting the help of MBA students. The researchers first performed personality tests to assess the whether the students were more likely to be capable of perspective-taking, or having the ability to act with empathy.

Next they asked the students to play the part of buyer and seller to reach a deal in the buying and selling of a petrol station (or ‘gas station’). The twist is that the buyer’s maximum price was set below the seller’s reserve price, so the only way to get a deal would be to understand and investigate other options. The creative deal involved understanding that the seller needed the money to finance a sailing trip but would need a job on his return, whilst the buyer needed staff to run the petrol station.

Students who were ranked as ‘perspective-taking’ were more likely to successfully reach a deal. In contrast, higher scores on empathy tended to result in being less successful at reaching a creative deal.

Negotiators give themselves an advantage by thinking about what is motivating the other party, by getting inside their head” Galinsky said. “Perspective-taking gives you insights into how to structure a deal that can benefit both parties. But unfortunately in negotiations, empathising makes you more concerned about making the other party happy, which can sometimes come at your own expense.

Luckily, we do have some tips on re-framing from the field of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).

Reframing describes changing the context or representation of a problem. For example if you are lying in bed and hear the bedroom door open, your reaction depends upon the frame of reference; are you expecting the kids to wander in, or could it be a burglar? Is that gunman a ‘terrorist’ or ‘freedom fighter’? Once you understand that everyone might have a different understanding of the same event, then you can take steps to increase your awareness and ability to take a perspective.

So if you want to succeed with project negotiations, we suggest you don’t get emotionally involved with your opponent as this leads to a worse outcome.

I’ve noticed that people – myself included – can behave in ways that sometimes appear to be ‘irrational’ or unpredictable. It seems that our personal biases and expectations can influence our decisions, with self-justification getting in the way of clear thinking.

To help all Project Managers, here are some of the strange behaviours you might see during the course of any project endeavour. Knowing about these effects will help us to understand and manage the expectations of our project stakeholders:

* The Endowment Effect

People attach a higher value to things they own. This leads to trouble in project contract negotiations, when the negotiator will try to hold on to things that are already agreed, even though there may be better options available.

* Confirmation Bias

People will search for or interpret information in a way that confirms their preconceptions. Don’t expect to be able to change someone’s mind easily, as they will ignore your carefully presented evidence if it falls outside their own biases.

* The Bandwagon Effect

Doing things because others do them. Ever been waiting to cross the road at a ‘red’ pedestrian crossing and then seen 5 other people stride into the road? Seeing other people taking action seems to give us permission to join them, so we irresistibly cross the road with them instead of waiting for the ‘green’ light.

* Framing Problems

Presenting the same data in different ways leads people to make different conclusions. We also assume other people see things the same way as ourselves.

Having some knowledge of human behaviour can help us to use the most appropriate communication strategy, tools and techniques.

I was wondering why the costs involved in public infrastructure mega-projects often seem to rise way beyond the original estimates?
The reason might involve the following:
Not running the project correctly and allowing costs to rise
Not estimating the costs correctly during planning
A study by Bent Flyvbjerg – an economic geographer and urban planner, who presently holds the chair as BT Professor of Major Programme Management at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and is Director of the University’s BT Centre for Major Programme Management, has some thoughts on the estimating part.

In 2002 his team performed the first statistically significant study of cost escalation in transportation infrastructure projects. The study was based on a sample of 258 transportation infrastructure projects worth US$90 billion and representing different project types, geographical regions, and historical periods.

Here are some of the findings:

First; think for a minute about Cost Estimation. Incorrect estimates can be grouped into four basic types:

1. Technical

(Imperfect techniques, inadequate data, honest mistakes, inherent problems in predicting the future, lack of experience on the part of forecasters, etc).

2. Economic

(Balancing project stakeholder’s self-interests against the general public interest. It obviously suits the project team to press ahead and overspend, than to have a project canceled before it begins due to an unacceptably high initial estimate).

3. Psychological

(Usually caused by a bias in the mental makeup of project promoters and forecasters. Politicians may like to build grand monuments, engineers like to build things, and local transportation officials sometimes like to build their empire with nice new infrastructure).

4. Political

(Are forecasts intentionally biased to serve the interests of project promoters in getting projects started?).

Let’s jump straight to the conclusion of the report:

“We conclude that the cost estimates used in public debates, media coverage, and decision making for transportation infrastructure development are highly, systematically, and significantly deceptive. So are the cost-benefit analysis into which cost estimates are routinely fed to calculate the viability and ranking of projects”.

Underestimation cannot be explained by error and is best explained by strategic misrepresentation; that is, lying.

And the key recommendation is that “You should not trust the cost estimates presented by infrastructure promoters and forecasters”.

This is one more example of the things we, as Project Managers, need to be aware.

Boeing recently announced that the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will be postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft, and then test it. The launch of this aircraft is now over two years late.

Does this all remind you of something else? Remember the delays to the Airbus A380 – also two years late?

Seems that we are dealing with very complex projects here, that might not follow the established laws of ‘normal’ projects. Perhaps some projects are too complex to be managed using conventional project management approaches?

An article by Remington & Pollack suggests some key skills needed by Project Managers when dealing with complex projects, as discovered during research:

• Very high level communication skills
• Ability to manage organisational politics
• Creative thinking
• Understanding of the importance of the project initiation and definition  phase
• Good team leadership skills
• Ability to foster positive relationships with other project managers and project director
• Ability to pay attention to what is happening around you; including paying attention to the rumors at work
• Skill with relationship management

Interestingly, the skills in the list above were ranked as more important than discipline specific knowledge or traditional project management skills – like planning and budgeting.

Perhaps it’s time to ensure that the right project manager is selected to run extraordinarily complex projects – like the creation of an entirely new passenger aircraft – as the required skills might be difficult to find in many project managers.

In order to empower Project Managers with some tools and techniques to handle people-related issues in the Project Office, we’ve decided to go beyond simply talking about theory. So here are a few suggestions on how to recognise things that might lead to damaging behaviours by both yourself and others, and what you can do about it.

Triggers

Take a look at these triggers for reasons why you might be exhibiting high stress and lower EQ. Do any of them apply to you?

• Lack of sleep (are you getting between 6 and 9 hours of sleep each night?)
• Lack of Exercise (been to the gym, or for a jog recently?)
• Illness
• Criticising others
• Failing to reach your own and the Project Goals
• A feeling of being overwhelmed (for example by the number of emails marked ‘unread’ in your Inbox)
• Unable to switch off your mobile phone or  BlackBerry

Communication Blockers

Are you doing any of these when communicating either face-to-face or by email with your colleagues / team-members?

• Arguing?
• Lecturing?
• Persuading with ‘logic’?
• Giving ‘expert’ advice?
• Ordering?
• Directing?
• Warning?
• Threatening?
• Doing most of the talking?
• Making moral statements or judgments?
• Criticising?
• Asking or making three or more questions / statements in a row?
• Telling someone “you  have a problem”?
• Prescribing solutions?

If you are, then acknowledge that you might be part of the problem.

Here’s what you can do to improve the situation:

• Listen actively
• Express empathy
• Give people more time to think
• Deal positively with resistance
• Develop a “can do” attitude
• Work with people

There’s a famous quote that goes something like “The only constant in life – is constant change”.

Project management is no different, so The Project Management Institute (PMI) regularly update their annual PM Network trends report; the third of which was released in June 2009.

So here are the five trends that PMI have identified for now:

1. Hyper Efficiency. There is simply no time for any wasted effort, as customers expect even more results than before. Any tasks that are not critical to achieving the project’s business result (as per the Charter), need to be eliminated. One good side-effect is that Project Managers are forced into increasing the efficiency of their projects, which makes them stronger. This should also reduce waste, which is another worthy goal.

2. Total Transparency. Everyone is nervous. An economic downturn is no time to be opaque, secretive or micromanaging. Project Managers need to be honest with their team, and let each team member know how their efforts fit in to the bigger picture of the overall project product, service or result. Sharing project information will help to increase team loyalty and efficiency.

3. Power Alliances. Companies and Governments are seeking out alliances to get their projects done, due to the difficulty of getting funding. One way of doing this is with Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP); sometimes called a win-win-win solution (Government gets infrastructure at low – or no – cost, private companies get more work, and the public benefit from the savings and the greater innovation that often results from this kind of partnership).

Here at EPM Training Services LLP we firmly believe in the power of partnership. In fact our company is a ‘Limited Liability Partnership’ (LLP) as we structured the entire company around a partnership of key individuals. The right partner can reduce risks and improve delivery time. On the other hand, the wrong partner can lead to a lack of project success.

4. Big Job Cuts. There’s no denying this one. As there are now less projects than before, there is a correspondingly lesser need for Project Managers. If there’s no project, then how can a PM’s position be justified? Fortunately the public sector still has many opportunities for PM’s with the right skills, credentials and experience. This is therefore a good time to get a credential like Project Management Professional (PMP) from PMI.

5. Near-sourcing. Many companies are looking to outsource some of their traditional work, mainly to save costs. The term ‘nearsourcing’ refers to outsourcing to a nearby country rather than a very distant one, to get a greater level of comfort.

The concept we use here in Singapore is called “Best-Sourcing“. This is a more flexible model, that allows for procurement of goods and services of the right quality at the right price, by evaluating Efficiency, Effectiveness and Economy.

So thanks to PMI for this latest information, and we’ll keep monitoring the trends looking for economic recovery and more projects to manage.