Project management discussion question

Project Management

Describe how a WBS can be used to support project definition and execution?

Tech target (2007) defines Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) as a chart in which the critical work elements known as tasks of a project are illustrated to portray their relationships to each other and to the projects as a whole. They go ahead to say that a well organized WBS and a detailed one assists the key personnel in the effective allocation of resources, project budgeting, scheduling, procurement management, quality assurance and service oriented management. This is to say that the WBS helps the project manager understand the project well. This therefore makes the execution of the project easier.

Dijest (2011) has it that in order to define a project appropriately it is always necessary to clearly and explicitly define what the project intends to achieve and the ultimate result expected at the end of the project. This is always understood well through drafting of a work breakdown structure since it entails all the duties to be carried out, by who and more so the laid down work plan makes execution of the project possible.

Dacs Gold Practices (2011) have it that WBS helps in project definition and execution through the mere fact that the project manager is expected to decompose the project into discrete work packages that can be easily understood. They include decisive outputs and divided milestones that can be measured which makes execution of a project possible. Since each work package that comprises the WBS is assigned a start date and a finishing date the project can be rated how long is expected to take.

Student 2

WBS refers to work breakdown structure. It is made up of different work packages and when illustrated it looks like a tree diagram. A WBS helps in definition of a project in the sense that it contains all that the projects intends to be carried out. This makes it easier to understand what the project is all about and who is expected to do what. In other words a WBS helps to define who is expected to what and what the project intend to achieve at the end of the day plus how long it is expected to take. Having known all this it becomes easier to kick start the project and thus describing how WBS helps in defining a project and execution.

Student 3

Work breakdown structure otherwise known as WBS is a key element of project management. It divides the project into manageable pieces of work that can easily be understood by the involved parties. The WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the project. Decomposition can be termed as subdivision of a project scope and deliverables until the project work associated with the project accomplishment is fully defined in sufficient detail to support the execution, monitoring and controlling the project work. This therefore explicitly explains how WBS helps in project definition and execution since it makes everything pertaining to the project crystal clear.

What is the preferred method for project estimation, bottom-up or top-down estimation? Under what conditions one technique would be used over the other?

Student 1

Liming Wu (1997) terms top-down estimation method as way of costing that involves overall cost estimation of the project derived from the properties of the project and then the project is partitioned into various low level components. Project Management Knowledge (2010) has it that bottom -- up estimating each task is broken down into smaller components and then individual estimates are developed in order to determine what is actually needed to meet the requirements of each of these small components and finally a sum of the total estimates is done.

Liming Wu (1997) indicates that bottom-up is time consuming which shows that in instances where time factor is limited top-down estimation method is preferred because it is not time consuming. Depending on the circumstances surrounding a project is what determines which method is much preferred. However because bottom-up estimation method tends to involve all the components costs of a project usually it is preferred to top-bottom method. More so this is so because it allows careful consideration of each of the smaller parts which makes it typically far more accurate than the top-down estimation method.

In cases where detailed information for justifying estimates is required bottom-top method is preferred because it gives the detailed information required which top-bottom estimate method does not offer. In cases of limited personnel Liming Wu (2007) top-bottom estimation method is better than bottom-top estimation method since it requires fewer personnel to do the calculations and make the estimates. All in all depending on the circumstances surrounding the project it is what determines which method is appropriate.

Student 2

Top-bottom estimation method involves overall cost analysis of a project and then breaking down the project cost according to work packages. Bottom-top estimation method involves calculating the costs of each work package in a project and then making an overall cost summation to know how much the project is going to cost. Bottom top estimation method is much preferred because it gives a more accurate estimate than top bottom. Where all the relevant information required to rate each work component is not available, indeed a top-bottom estimation method is much more appropriate to use than bottom-top method.