Work-Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A PM's best friend
Product or Project Management?
The answer is both. If you are managing a product or project, you need to understand its complexity and what is being done.
This tool decomposes the product / project into manageable tasks that can be assigned to the team.

Below is the initial WBS for a tablet fleet management product : just a simple tree of boxes to estimate, plan, validate and start the work.
My Personal Take
This is the most versatile tool for a PM. You can use it only to handle the complexity of your product / project, or you can take it a few steps further by adding progress bars for each tasks, assign team members or show friction points.
Other tools can do that, but combining it into WBSs increases efficiency : don't multiply documentation. It spreads out the relevant info, prevents the team from having a broad view of the product / project and in the end, few people read thorough documentation.
WBS enrichment
The project went into its execution phase.
We added progression and assignment for internal tasks, and showed we were considering outsourcing the tasks on the left to a partner company.
‍
WBS enrichment
We did outsource the "MDM setup" task, but it proved harder than anticipated. The partner company required more time and money to complete it.
I needed to report to my company's executives and explain that this was delaying us and blocking an internal task. I used an updated WBS to highlight the friction point.
‍
Final thoughts
Accurate, updated WBS are the backbone of any project. They are an essential tool to communicate with the project team and the company.
They are not necessarily done by a product manager, but anyone in charge of a product greatly benefits from having this clear vision of what is going on during execution.
‍
The strategic project illustrated above ended up being shipped on time, without added cost and was a hit with the company's customers, opening up a new market for us.
To this date, it is one of my proudest 0 -> 1 products shipped.
‍
I dug into the task the partner had trouble with and took it over with the help of other partners. This inspired me a few years later to build my own company and build a similar, better product.
Powered by Webflow
FacebookTwitterInstagram