Q: What is the difference between a work package and an activity?
A: The work package, which is the lowest level of the WBS, describes a deliverable which the team has defined as representing a manageable ‘chunk’ of work. An example of a work package might for example be ‘Storage Racking ‘
The next step in the planning process is to identify the activities and estimate the resources and time necessary to deliver the element ‘storage racking’
The Activity List for this work package could for example be:
- Measure racking area
- Determine racking sizes
- Order Racking
- Prepare installation site
- Fit Racking
- Label Racking
So, the single work package ‘Storage Racking’ has resulted in 6 activities – these activities would then be entered onto the schedule task list and planned into the timing – this would be done using a manual process and a tool such as MS Excel, or using some form of Schedule Management software such as MS Project
Q: Can you elaborate further with Progressive Elaboration and best practices?
A: Progressive Elaboration is a project planning technique that can be applied to virtually any aspect of planning where there is currently insufficient information to develop a comprehensive detailed plan. It involves creating a detailed plan for those parts of the project which are well understood and for which sufficient information exists, and an outline plan for those parts that are less clear. The assumption is that you are able to plan in detail for near-term work, somewhat less detail for medium-term work, and possibly headline level only for long-term work. Then, as the project progresses, further information is obtained, and the medium term work can then be planned in detail – and so on.
The draw-back to Progressive Elaboration is that we are often under pressure to provide up-front estimates for project cost and duration, at a time when we may only have the first few months of the project defined in detail – this unfortunately is a fact of life – we only know what we know – we just have to do the best we can to provide estimates for the later work, and allow a contingency of time and funds to account for the uncertainty. Project Estimating is a whole subject in itself.
Here are two links to websites which go into the subject in a little more depth
http://project-management-knowledge.com/definitions/p/progressive-elaboration/
http://projectmanagementessentials.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/progressive-elaboration-moving-from-the-unknown-to-the-known/
Q: Why can't you combine deliverables with tasks to create the deliverables in MS Project?
A: In a sense, that is exactly what you do when you take a work package generated from the WBS and turn it into one or more tasks within MS Project. For example, an example of a work package might for example be 'Storage Racking.' The next step in the planning process is to identify the activities and estimate the resources and time necessary to deliver the element 'storage racking.'
The Activity List for this work package could for example be:
- Measure racking area
- Determine racking sizes
- Order Racking
- Prepare installation site
- Fit Racking
- Label Racking
So, the single work package ‘Storage Racking’ has resulted in 6 activities – these activities would then be entered onto the schedule task list and planned into the timing – this would be done using a manual process and a tool such as MS Excel, or using some form of Schedule Management software such as MS Project
Of course, there is nothing to stop you from entering ‘Storage Racking’ into the task list on MS Project, and then indenting the activities beneath it, such that ‘Storage Racking’ becomes the Summary Task which MS Project will roll the other activity times and resources into – in that way the deliverable and activities are both documented in MS Project.
The reason we first construct the WBS, is to maintain the focus on Deliverables until such time as we are ready to switch the focus to Activities or Tasks. If you allow yourself or your team to start diving down into the detail of activities while still not having fully identified all deliverables, you lose focus and run a big risk of missing one or more vital deliverables.
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