CHAPTER 4
WBS Principles, Steps, and Checklist

The WBS principles, steps, and checklist provided in this chapter complete the basic “how-to” section of this book and provide a summary of Part I. The chapter includes three parts that summarize the material presented up to this point in this book: (1) A set of WBS principles; (2) pragmatic steps for the project manager to follow in developing a project WBS, and (3) a recommended checklist for the project manager to use in reviewing the WBS.

Figure 4-1 repeats the generic WBS of Chapter 2 (Figure 2-2), which identifies categories, but expands it to include additional information.

FIGURE 4-1 Generic Work Breakdown Structure Elements

The figure provides an overview of the different types of projects and their typical, next-level types of elements. These are discussed in detail in the following sections.