Using CPM with project 2007: Part 3

Ahhhh the mystery that is a good WBS...

So you think that you know what a WBS is. It 's a breakdown of all your tasks, right? NO!!!!!!!!
It's an assignment matrix for who does what, right? NO!!!!!!!!!
It has duration estimates for the project, right? NO!!!!!!!!!

A GOOD WBS is deceptively easy. Try this: JUST USE NOUNS...

"What??" you say... "Nouns???? Are You sure???" you say...

Yes. Nouns. Only. Well, pronouns are fine too.

Now lets agree on what a WBS is. It is your scope. Your physical scope for the project. It is everything you will deliver, physically, for the project. You can create it as an outline, or diagram it like an org chart, no matter... it's still JUST 100% of your SCOPE.

"Well, why do I care? I already have a scope statement. That's my scope, right?" you say...

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have a vague description of scope. What you have there may even be product scope instead of project scope! Get with the program. We are talking project management, not product management.

How should you discuss which DELIVERABLES are on track? WBS
How should you discuss what is in scope and out of scope? WBS
How do you know your MS Project schedule hasn't missed anything? AhAH! WBS!

So you will build your WBS in much the same way. Get the SMEs for the scope together and sticky note it, but instead of a precedence diagram, do an outline or an ORG chart type format...

The top item on the WBS is the project name. Each sub level should represent 100% of the level above it. Go as far as you need to, but remember, no tasks! Only nouns.

Fast forward: lets assume you did that, and eventually did a critical path analysis with your team. Now take those nouns and make them summary lines in MS Project and all the stickys from your CPA get placed underneath each one...

This is the proper way to do a project schedule!

Using CPM with project 2007: Part 2

Wow, it's been far too long since my last post. I have been extremely busy and have some incredible stories to tell on why this took so long, but alas, it was longer than it should be.

So on to it...
The process to apply your critical path analysis to MS project is somewhat automatic, IF you place the tasks in the tool after performing the CPA manually.

One popular method of doing so is as follows: Grab your SMEs and your WBS. Get in a conference room with some sticky notes and a whiteboard and then work backwards from "end" to identify all the tasks and draw their relationships on the whiteboard. This is called a precedence diagram.

After this is done, you can then ask for DURATION estimates (not work estimates) and write them under each task. Now you can determine, through simple math, what the critical path(s) tasks are and estimate a completion date.

Some of the side benefits of this particular process:
- Buy in from all team members
- Commitment to dates and durations from all team members
- Expected end date
- Early opportunity to gauge success
- Early opportunity to crash the critical path.


So after this is done, you are ready to take your tasks from those stickys and place them into your MS project schedule, right?

Not so fast... you need your WBS, and part 3 of this article.