Project Management Theory - Essay Example

They had success utilizing this system to develop new products. Currently work breakdown structure is a valuable technique in the project management field. WBS can be defined as a deliverable or product orientated grouping of project work elements shown in graphical display to organize and subdivide the total work scope of a project (U.S. Department of Energy, 2003). It is a tremendous tool that provides a work layout plan that can be utilized for scheduling, budgeting and to create time estimates for different tasks.

A project manager has to develop a work breakdown structure with the following characteristics: definable, manageable, estimating capacity, independent, easy to integrate, measurable and adaptable (U.S. Department of Energy, 2003). The WBS is divided in different levels. Each succeeding levels provides more detail about the work to be performed during the project. The Work breakdown structure also provides a numeric value beside each element that represents the proportion of total work for that work task.

There is a rule called “The 100% Rule” which stipulates that the sum of all numeric values can not exceed a 100. The project scope is a descriptive guideline of the overall content of the project. The project scope management plan provides details of the actions necessary to prepare the work breakdown structure (Anticlue, 2007). An organizational project assets is a history log of a company’s previous projects. The WBS dictionary describes individually the meaning of each component. A simple project scope statement for the trade show project could be: The trade show project provides an opportunity to showcase our variety of products to new potential customers, collect valuable customer feedback and obtain sales for the company.

The WBS created for the project is composed on five components in the level two diagram. Out of these five work components sales