Work breakdown structure (WBS)
A tool that sorts the milestones and tasks of a project in a hierarchy in the order they need to be completed.
After completing a work breakdown structure, you should have:
- Sets of discrete project tasks that ladder up to each of your milestones
- Team members assigned to each task
Tasks are generally assigned based on the person’s role in the team. Also, consider the person’s familiarity with the task. Also, consider the workload assigned to that specific person.
Apply a top-down approach:
- Start with the high-level, overarching project picture. Brainstorm with your team to list the major deliverables and milestones
- Identify the tasks that need to be performed in order to meet those milestones
- Examine those tasks and break them down further into sub-tasks