Work Breakdown Structure

Today I will be blogging about a powerful (yet simple) tool that I came across through the project management field; that is the Work Breakdown Structure. WBS is self explanatory, all it does is decompose any project into tiny deliverables, each of which can be managed separately. Taking for example a very simple project; having a snack in the living room! Using a pencil and a paper, our WBS will look like this:


I included the text below just in case it looks too small in the diagram.

* Produce Glass of Orange Juice

• Obtain Juice
• Obtain Glass

* Produce Cheese & Rocket Sandwich

• Obtain Bread
• Obtain Cheese
• Obtain Rocket

* Arrange Tray

• Obtain Plate
• Obtain Tray

Apparently we come across a variety of projects in our daily life, and the word 'Project' does not always have to be associated with building a skyscraper. The good thing about WBS is that it is applicable to any project no matter how small or big, and it becomes handy when we realize that we cannot do all things together, especially in our to do list.

Voila, here is my project after completion - except that I forgot to get cheese from the grocery store, so I had to use Labneh (Strained yogurt) instead, sorry!

References:

- Example adapted from: Slack, N., Chambers, S., & Johnston, R. (2010). Operations Management. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

- Diagram illustrated using diagram.ly