How To Create A Work Breakdown Structure - Lucidchart

9/2/23, 7:35 PM How to Create a Work Breakdown Structure | Lucidchart Blog
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breakdown structure
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How to create
a work
breakdown
structure and
why you Popular now
should
Reading time: about 10 min
Rules to create a
work breakdown
structure
10 types of organizational structures (+
org charts for implementation)
1. Include 100%
of the work
How to make a flowchart in Google Docs
necessary to
complete the
goal.
How to create a customer journey map
2. Don't
account for
any amount
of work
twice.
3. Focus on Find something insightful...
outcomes,
not actions. Sign up free
4. A work
package
should take Sign up to get the latest
no less than 8 Lucidchart updates and
hours and no tips delivered to your
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more than 80 inbox once a month.
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hours of
effort. Subscribe to our newsletter
5. Include
about three
levels of
detail.
6. Assign each
work About Lucidchart
package to a
specific team Lucidchart is the intelligent
or individual. diagramming application that
empowers teams to clarify
complexity, align their insights,
It’s your first dive into
and build the future—faster. With
the world of project
this intuitive, cloud-based
management and
solution, everyone can work
everyone around you
visually and collaborate in real
seems to be speaking a
time while building flowcharts,
different language.
mockups, UML diagrams, and
Worse than anything,
more.
your co-workers hurl
acronyms left and right, The most popular online Visio
and there’s not enough alternative, Lucidchart is utilized
time for you to look one in over 180 countries by millions
up before a new one is of users, from sales managers
casually tossed onto mapping out target organizations
the field—QCD, to IT directors visualizing their
PMBOK, ACWP, QFD, network infrastructure.
RBS, SOW, SWOT, FPIF,
and WBS.
Mercifully, the deluge

stops. But now you are
left to ponder over your Sign up free
list. You start at the
bottom and think to
yourself, “What does
WBS stand for?"
Tech Blog
In project
management, WBS
stands for work
breakdown structure.
This is a foundational
tool that will help you
to plan, manage, and
evaluate large projects,
so let’s learn a little bit
more.
What is a work
breakdown
structure?
The name is rather self-
explanatory. A work
breakdown structure
starts with a large
project or objective
and breaks it down into
smaller, more
manageable pieces
that you can reasonably
evaluate and assign to
teams. Rather than
focusing on individual
actions that must be
taken to accomplish a
project, a WBS
generally focuses on
Sign up free
deliverables or
concrete, measurable
milestones. These
deliverables may also
be called work
packages,
Tech Blog tasks, sub-
tasks, or terminal
elements. If you're still
unclear on
what is a work
breakdown structure
, it looks something like
this:
Work Breakdown Structure Example

(Click on image to modify online)
A work breakdown
structure is a diagram
that shows the
connections between
the objectives,
measurable
milestones, and
deliverables (also
referred to as work
packages or tasks). The
main reason for a work
breakdown structure is Sign up free
to make a project more
manageable and
quantifiable by
breaking up the work
into smaller tasks.
Tech Blog
Why use a
WBS in
project
management?
There are a number of
reasons why breaking
down a large project is
beneficial. It helps you
to:
Estimate the cost of a

project.
Establish
dependencies.
Determine a
project timeline and
develop a schedule.
Write a
statement of work (or
SOW, one of your
other acronyms).
Assign
responsibilities and
clarify roles (use our
roles and
responsibilities
template
to outline duties).
Sign up free
Track the progress of
a project.
Identify risk.
All of these benefits

Tech Blog
essentially arise from
working with chunks of

a project that you can
accurately visualize
rather than trying to
digest and interpret a
mysterious and
overwhelming task in
one fell swoop.
How to create
a work
breakdown
structure
1. Define the scope and
objectives. Record
the overarching
objective you are
trying to accomplish.
This objective could
be anything from
developing a new
software feature to
building a
missile. Document
these details in your
project charter. This
will be your guiding
reference.
2. Break it down into key
phases and Sign up free
deliverables.
Depending on the
nature of your
project, start dividing
by project phases,
Tech Blog
specific large
deliverables, or sub-
tasks. Divide the
overarching project
into smaller and
smaller pieces, but
stop before you get to
the point of listing out
every action that
must be taken.
Remember to focus
on concrete
deliverables rather
than actions.
3. Organize deliverables
into work packages.
Break down each
deliverable into all the
tasks and sub-tasks
required to complete
them. Organize the
tasks into work
packages. Work
packages are the
lowest level of the
breakdown and
should define the
work, duration, and
costs for each task, as
well task owners.
Each work package
should provide
assignments that can Sign up free
be completed within
a reporting period.
Tips for
making
Tech Blog a
work
breakdown
structure
As you make a work
breakdown structure,
use the following rules
for best results:
The 100% rule. The

work represented by
your WBS must
include 100% of the
work necessary to
complete the
overarching goal
without including any
extraneous or
unrelated work. Also,
child tasks on any
level must account
for all of the work
necessary to
complete the parent
task.
Mutually exclusive.
Do not include a sub-
task twice or account
for any amount of
work twice. Doing
so would violate the
100% rule and will Sign up free
result in
miscalculations as
you try to determine
the resources
necessary
Tech Blog to
complete a project.
Outcomes, not
actions. Remember to
focus on deliverables
and outcomes rather
than actions. For
example, if you were
building a bike, a
deliverable might be
“the braking system”
while actions would
include “calibrate the
brake pads.”
The 8/80 rule. There
are several ways to
decide when a work
package is small
enough without being
too small. This rule is
one of the most
common suggestions
—a work package
should take no less
than eight hours of
effort, but no more
than 80. Other rules
suggest no more than
ten days (which is the
same as 80 hours if
you work full time) or
no more than a
standard reporting
period. In other Sign up free
words, if you report
on your work every
month, a work
package should take
no more than a month
Tech
toBlog
complete. When in
doubt, apply the “if it

makes sense” rule
and use your best
judgment.
Three levels.
Generally speaking, a
WBS should include
about three levels of
detail. Some
branches of the WBS
will be more
subdivided than
others, but if most
branches have about
three levels, the
scope of your project
and the level of detail
in your WBS are about
right.
Make assignments.
Every work package
should be assigned to
a specific team or
individual. If you have
made your WBS well,
there will be no work
overlap so
responsibilities will be
clear.
Work Sign up free

breakdown
structure
example
As you
Tech Blog are
thinking
about how to make a
work breakdown
structure, let’s look at
an example. This is a
work breakdown
structure for building a
house.
Notice how the rules of

building a WBS are
applied in this example.
First, the house
building project is
subdivided into three
large sections:
foundation, exterior,
and interior. Those
sections are further
Sign up free
subdivided into one or
two more levels for a
maximum of three
levels. The effort
needed to build a
Tech Bloghas been
house
allocated across all of

the work packages for a
total of 100% effort.
There is no duplication
of work represented in
this diagram. To further
enhance this diagram,
you could add the
budget for each work
package and assign a
team.
Work
breakdown
structure
formats
When creating a work
breakdown structure,
you can choose from
several different format
options, such as a
hierarchical table, an
outline or numbered
list, a tabular view, or a
tree diagram. The
example above uses a
tree format, which is
the most visual option.
It structures the WBS
like an org chart and
Sign up free
shows the hierarchy of
tasks, providing space
for additional
information about each
work package.
Tech Blog
Outline structure
A text outline is the

simplest WBS format. It
is easy to put together
and shows the
hierarchy of tasks.
However, it is difficult
to add additional
information about
budget, duration, and
assignment using this
format.
Build a
House
1
Foundation
1.1
Excavate
1.1.1
Dig
1.1.2
Level
1.2
Frame
1.3
Concrete
Sign up free

1.3.1 Pour

1.3.2 Cure
Tech Blog
2 Exterior
3 Interior
Hierarchical structure
This format is less

visually intuitive but
shows the hierarchy of
tasks. Because it is a
table, this format fits
easily onto a page.
Tabular view
A tabular view is a more

visually intuitive way to
show hierarchy using a
table.
Sign up free
WBS dictionary
Tech Blog
What is a WBS
dictionary? A WBS
dictionary is formatted
like the hierarchical
structure, but it
includes a brief
description of each
work package. When
documenting a project,
a WBS dictionary is
often included in
addition to a
visualization of the
WBS. It helps to clarify
the scope of each task
so that all team
members understand
their responsibilities.
Work
breakdown
structure
template
To get you started, here
are a number of work
Sign up free
breakdown structure
templates you can use.
Simply click to open
the template, and then
customize the
Tech Blog
information, layout, and

design.
Work breakdown
structure chart
Work Breakdown Structure Template

(Click on image to modify online)
How to make
a work
breakdown
structure in
Microsoft
Office
Work breakdown
structures and WBS
dictionaries are often
included as part of a
larger set of
documentation or data
analysis made using
Microsoft Office. The
best way to put a WBS Sign up free
into Word or Excel is to
use Lucidchart and its
free integrations with
MS Office.
Build your diagram in a
Tech Blog
software optimized for
diagrams, and leave the

words and data
crunching to Microsoft.
Just follow the steps
below:
1. Register for a free

account with
Lucidchart.
2. To make a work

breakdown structure in
Excel, install the
free Lucidchart add-in
for Excel
.
3. Install the
free Lucidchart add-in
for Word
to create a WBS in
Word.
Get started with

our work
breakdown
structure software.
Sign up free
Learn more
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9/2/23, 7:35 PM How to Create a Work Breakdown Structure | Lucidchart Blog

Find something insightful...

Mercifully, the deluge

Work Breakdown Structure Example

Estimate the cost of a

All of these benefits

working with chunks of

The 100% rule. The

doubt, apply the “if it

Work Sign up free

Notice how the rules of

allocated across all of

A text outline is the

This format is less

A tabular view is a more

information, layout, and

Work Breakdown Structure Template

diagrams, and leave the

1. Register for a free

2. To make a work

Get started with

Get started Product Solutions Resources Company

Individual Lucidscale Engineering Blog Mission

Team Integrations IT Webinars Leadership

Enterprise Security Operations Support Newsroom

Contact sales Product Case studies Careers

Sales Diagrams Accessibility

English Privacy Legal Cookies

© 2023 Lucid Software Inc.

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