successful project management - Commonwealth of Learning

that the other tasks can be carried out against target dates. Equally important is the
issue of who carries out the responsibility. In some cases, it is an individual, a
department, or a group of individuals. All the tasks are synchronised to meet the
target date, namely, 7August. Now, look at the WBS again and attempt these
questions before reading on.
?? Activity
1. Why was it necessary for the project manager to create and table this plan
to the project steering committee?
2. Why are dates necessary when a breakdown is made?
3. Imagine you were the project coordinator for this particular project.
• Which tasks would you exclude?
• Which tasks would you include?
• Why would you include or exclude some of the tasks?
4. Why is it necessary for the project manager to present the WBS in a
hierarchical order?
There can be no doubt that your insights from a close examination of the case study,
and the responses you gave to the four questions, you now appreciate the purpose
of the WBS. The following are some of the reasons for using it:
• It accurately and specifically defines and organises the scope of the project
as a whole.
• It helps with the allocation of responsibilities, thus facilitating the monitoring
and controlling of the project.
• It allows the team to estimate cost, risk, and time because the team can work
from smaller tasks back up to the entire level of the macro project.
• It allows the project manager to check the deliverables with stakeholders,
thus ensuring that there is nothing missing or overlapping.
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