Estimation Techniques - Work Breakdown Structure - Essay Example

Estimation techniques Insert Insert Estimation techniques I. Work breakdown structure It is used in planning effectively for a project by breaking down the key tasks or activities into smaller manageable units of work. Advantages They can be used to effectively control projects while showing greater accountabilities It can be used in identifying and managing risks It can be used to achieve accurate forecasts for projects to save costs. Disadvantages It requires adequate planning II. Gantt charts Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that is in scheduling of projects.

Each activity is represented as a block over time and the performance recorded as time and then related to the planned deadlines. Advantages They are useful in planning time scale for projects and estimating the required resources They are useful in planning, coordinating and tracking particular tasks in a project They are efficient especially when the number of activities involved in a project is small. Disadvantages They do not show the interdependencies between project activities They are inefficient especially when the project is complex and lengthy. III. Critical path analysis It is a visual tool that is used to effectively manage time while clearly displaying the relationship between the activities.

Advantages It shows the interrelationship between different activities It can be used to plan and allocate resources including planning of staff It is an effective communication and planning tool in managing time. Disadvantages It assumes that time and money can trade off whereas most costs are not variable, they are fixed. The critical path analysis diagram becomes more complex with increasing activities There are always unforeseen uncertainties in estimating duration for activities, which will result in poor prediction.

Most efficient technique for an IT project Work breakdown structure (Work breakdown structure, Innovative ProjectGuide, n.d.) The efficient technique Estimating a source code based project- Critical path analysis because it shows the interdependencies of the activities involved. Systems development project- Work breakdown structure because it effectively manages complex and lengthy projects. High risk software project- Work breakdown structure because it effectively manages the risks involved in a project.

References Innovative ProjectGuide. (n.d.). Advantages of WBS and WBS Examples. Retrieved April 28, 2014, from http://www.innovativeprojectguide.com/project-management-tools/1-project- management-tools/145-advantages-of-wbs-and-wbs-examples.html Kirkland, C. E. (2011). Mastering software project management: Best practices, tools and techniques. Project Management Journal, 42(6), 92-92. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pmj.20276