Module 1: Research Strategy and Planning

4.4 Developing a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

So far we have explored how you provide a clear picture as to the research project intent. However, the scoping statement does not offer sufficient guidance to actually cost and later manage the project. Many research projects are poorly estimated in terms of time, resources, and costs due to poor breakdown of the tasks to be undertaken. This can cause severe problems when the funding fails to cover the true demands of the project, or the project is unable to deliver the promised outcomes.

A particularly valuable tool is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). This is a simple representation of a project showing how the parts of the project fit together. It offers guidance on the structure of the research by providing a simple hierarchy of tasks and activities to ensure the project objectives and deliverables are clearly identified and managed.

A WBS helps you to:

• Identify the various tasks that need to be undertaken, including when and by whom;
• Clarify the interdependencies between different parts of the project;
• Assist communication to team members as to their role and duties;
• Provide a basis for scheduling, cost recording, and responsibility assignment; and
• Clarify the various research elements and stages.

The WBS creates a framework to enable you to consider the following critical issues:

• Define: What needs to be done?
• Sequence: What comes before this activity and what after?
• Date: How long will it take?
• Allocate: Who is responsible for ensuring it is done?

An effective WBS can be very powerful in communicating many things to the project team. Its contribution includes:

• communicating the structure of the research project;
• ensuring activities support the research goals and are within cost and time requirements;
• highlighting important or risky work;
• mapping requirements, plans, criteria, and deliverables;
• fostering clear ownership by research team members;
• providing data for performance measurement and historical data collection;
• guiding all stakeholders as to the project goals and processes.

4.4.1 How WBS works

The WBS operates as a structured list of tasks that need to be completed during the project. At the top level of the hierarchy, the activities may be more a description than a specific activity to be executed. At subsequent levels, each defined task should be executable, measurable, and assignable. You should be able to say who will do it, how long it will take to do, and how it links to other tasks. The process of developing the WBS is relatively simple, but likely to take several attempts, as the first effort may, after reflection, require further refinement.

There are various ways in which you can develop a WBS. If your project is large and highly complex, it is worthwhile using project management software (e.g. Microsoft Project) to assist with linking the various tasks, contributors, timelines, and processes. It is a useful tool to employ. However, you can still create an effective WBS using some very simple and unsophisticated techniques with post-it stickers. We will use this technique to demonstrate the principles.

There are various steps involved in the WBS exercise. These are described briefly below and then we will see how that translates into a practical example.

1. Identify all the tasks required to accomplish the research activity. Be very specific and write each onto its own post-it sticker. Use active verbs to describe each task. E.g. Identify key stakeholders to be involved in the project.

2. Place these on a large wall or chart that will allow you to shift and re-order the stickers.

3. Look closely at the tasks/activities you have listed. Would a novice know what needs to be done by looking at this list? In all likelihood, you will find that you have assumed a high level of competence and background knowledge that may not exist. Add more post-its with more specific tasks and keep refining the tasks as you delve into each activity. Some good questions to ask include: What are the main tasks we will need to do? How will we do that?

To illustrate, if you were to do a survey of mining workers on their residential needs, you might write: "Survey fly-in/fly-out workers" as a broad description of a project area. But there are many activities associated with this: reviewing past research and the literature, seeking research ethics approval; working with Cozinca HR staff to get approval and access to the staff list; getting a mailing list organised; drafting the survey; creating an online survey and testing it with a pilot group; setting up the analytical database, administering the survey; following up on non-respondents; inputting data; analysing the results; reporting back to stakeholders, etc. Each of these tasks needs to be separately listed as it may be undertaken by different members of the team and it requires consideration of the time and costs involved. When projects only operate at that broader conceptual level of "conduct a survey" there are real risks of having time and cost blow-outs and omitting critical planning/execution elements, particularly when less experienced research members are involved.

4. Think about involving several people in this WBS process. The more critical thinkers there are, the better. Put yourself into the mind of the least experienced team member. What do they need to know to support the project?

5. As you work with the activities, you will see the need to re-order some elements and expand others. Once you feel they are well defined, regroup them into a hierarchical framework where the different objectives are listed together logically and sequentially. Check to see if the sequence is right – have you listed something ahead of a prior task that needs to be done first? Have you missed any crucial steps? Are some of the tasks too big? Do they need more definition?

6. Once you have identified the research project components, come back to the other elements that need to be managed in your project. What reporting requirements must you meet? Make each of those a new task. How will you coordinate your project team (e.g. meetings, quality checks, etc.). List those as additional tasks. What HDR supervision milestones must you manage? How will you liaise with your stakeholders? Every element of the project needs to be included in your WBS. The more fine-grained your early planning, the better.

7. Finally, test the quality of your WBS: does it fully capture your objectives? Are your research deliverables achieved through the tasks you have listed? Have you met all research requirements?

8. While you have the post-its clearly displayed, you may also wish to estimate how long each task might take. List your estimate in days, or parts of days, as this assists in planning your overall timeline. Make sure you allow for waiting time. For example, getting ethics approval for your survey may be quite a lengthy process – while the writing of the application may be efficient, the committee may only meet monthly and it may take several more weeks to advise you of the outcome. It may also want further information or changes to your protocol. In all, you may need to allow 8 weeks at least from seeking approval to receiving it. This will have an impact on your project timelines.

9. At the same time as you are thinking about time requirements, you may also wish to consider people requirements. Who will be responsible for this task? Place their initials on the post-its so that you can start to see who is likely to have large demands at particular times, or who might be available to assist at critical points in the project execution.

10. Once you are happy with the ordering and breakdown of the tasks, capture it in a table so that you can work with the information in different ways. Give each discrete task a hierarchically-based number so that it is clearly nested within a broader structure and related to other activities that need to be undertaken to achieve your objective. List in separate columns the estimated days and the person responsible.

The following example illustrates how a WBS might look for one small element of the Cozinca project relating to one objective. You will see that there are various levels of detail, ranging from broad scoping (e.g. 1.0) to quite detailed activities at 1.2.1. Each of these activities can be further delineated in a similar way.

Figure 2: A Sample WBS: Developing an educational blueprint

Objective: Investigate and identify design features that might be included in a mining town educational facility suited to school children and adult learners. 1. Research state-of-the-art educational facility design. 1.1 Investigate existing literature on educational facility design. 1.2 Visit educational facilities to identify desirable practice. 1.2.1 Contact leading educational architects to identify suitable venues. 1.2.2 Contact identified school facilities to arrange the visit. 1.2.3 Organise visiting panel schedule, accommodation, and flights. 1.2.4 Arrange transportation. 1.2.5 Undertake visits, take photos, and discuss options with school members (including students). 1.2.6 Write report on visit findings. 1.2.7 Present report on visit findings to community advisory group. 1.2.8 Confirm desirable elements to be included in educational blueprint. 1.3 Conduct interviews with local leaders, parents, and students on desirable elements for a new educational facility. 1.4 Conduct focus interviews with mining staff and their families on desirable elements for a new educational facility. 1.5 Develop models of possible designs and consult with stakeholders as to the suitability of the designs. 2. Clarify the educational requirements of the new facility. 2.1 Review the literature relating to educational and curriculum design. 2.2 Investigate educational learning models in comparable regional communities. 2.3 Evaluate the educational enhancements possible through a high technology educational infrastructure. 2.4 Identify potential educational options for adult learning. 2.5 Review the requirements for providing vocational educational options. 3. Develop a draft educational blueprint for review by community and Cozinca stakeholders.

 

Hopefully you can already begin to see the benefits of using WBS as a project management tool. It can save you considerable time in communication alone, as every team member can have a copy and the information can be structured in various ways. It also ensures all critical tasks are identified and planned well ahead. It can operate as a quality assurance tool and for discussing project progress with the team. It has sufficient flexibility to be revised as needed while also preventing project creep. Its benefits don't stop there. The next section outlines how the WBS can be represented in many different ways: as a monitoring device, timeline tool, or a workload allocation tool.