The work breakdown structure is meant to reduce the activities that are complicated to tasks that are arranged in the form of collection. This breakdown is an essential feature of the project managers, this way they will be able to view the tasks that seem complicated as smaller tasks that are not complex. The complex factors can be handled efficiently, this also ensures that the functions are put in measurable limits that are independent and defined. Projects that have complex activities that are complex make it difficult for the project managers to schedule the projects and to manage the projects too (FitzGerald et al., 2015). The conventional methods that have been in planning such projects and executing them have not been effective. The projects that are complex, if they are not scheduled correctly, there is a high likelihood that they will either be overestimated or underestimated. This is regarding the time of implementation and the budget that is involved in ensuring that the project is running. There are modern tools that are used in the management of complex projects. The current methods have become popular because they can efficiently manage the projects that are complex and they are easier to use as compared to the conventional methods of project management such as the bar charts. These new techniques allow for the breaking down of the projects into smaller units that can be implemented as a collection which makes it easier for the project managers to manage the projects that are complex.
The network diagrams are one of the modern methods that are used in sophisticated project management. This technique involves the use of popular methods that are based on a network scheduling technique. One of the purposes is known as Project Evaluation and Review Technique which is commonly referred to as PERT. The US Navy developed this method in a bid to schedule and manage its Polaris Missile project. The network diagram involves the management of activities, and these are the tasks that need human resources, time and other resources to be complete. The arrows in the networks diagram represent an activity that is being done. This method also involves the identification of concurrent activities, and these activities are those that are performed simultaneously but run independently. Serial activities are also identified, these are those activities that are performed by one another. The duration that the activities take to be completed is also determined and drawn.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Many complex projects try to use these modern methods in ensuring that there is a proper breakdown of the complex parts into smaller parts that will be executed in an easier and effective manner. For instance, the study conducted by FitzGerald et al., presents ways in which the projects of asthma control can be broken down into smaller collection and be easily executed (FitzGerald et al., 2015). The projects are broken down using the network diagram system. The use also involves the critical path method to ensure that the project is broken down and also the problem is solved in an easy way. Another modern method that is used in project management is the Critical Path Method (CPM). The method was developed by the Dupont Chemical works in the United States of America (Ritchie, 2014). The method is quite different from the conventional methods of project management. This method is related to the network diagram, and the method uses arrows to show the activities that are taking place. However, the length of the arrows does not necessarily represent the duration of the tasks that are being carried out. The method has events, and these represent the starting point and end point of the activities that are in the method. The method is related to the network diagrams method. This is because of they both break down the complex tasks into smaller common tasks that are efficiently executed.
References
Bateman, E. D., Esser, D., Chirila, C., Fernandez, M., Fowler, A., Moroni-Zentgraf, P., & FitzGerald, J. M. (2015). The magnitude of the effect of asthma treatments on Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire and Asthma Control Questionnaire scores: Systematic review and network meta-analysis. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology , 136 (4), 914-922.
Ritchie, E. (2014). Network-based planning techniques: a critical review of published developments. Further Developments in Operational Research: Frontiers of Operational Research and Applied Systems Analysis , 34.
