A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a simplified representation of the flow of events or activities that take place in a given project (Robinson, et al., 2018). In other words, it is a hierarchical representation of what activity will take place and at what stage with details on the said activity. For instance, when palling for a wedding, a wedding planner has the wedding as the main project. Under the wedding, some subprojects such as venue, food, gown, movement, and guests are some of the details that are considered separately. As such, you can have people preparing the wedding perform different tasks such as some looking for the best venue while others working towards choosing the best gown. When events have been incorporated to the maximum level under WBS, the project is served.
Part I
A Shop Counter WBS
The project looks to detail the steps followed when building a shop’s carpenter. The plan follows several steps that identify each activity at every level. The WBS is hierarchical that follows a noun-oriented design. For instance, the names of the tools that have to be used have been given for every required part. On the other hand, the presentation separates activities from the main resources that are to be carried out. In the case of this WBS, there are two types of personnel needed. A mason is necessary to fix the places that the carpenter has to dig to enable proper attachment of the counter to the built counter's frame. Shown below is the WBS for erecting a shop’s counter.
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Breakdown of Activities
Shop counter – Is the project name. It details what has to be achieved as a result.
People – Details the people who are required for the project. In this case, a carpenter indicated as level 1.2 is needed for the building of the wooden part of the counter. The carpenter works in line with a mason indicated as the level 1.1 who handles all building and construction processes requiring the use of concrete.
Tools – Building the counter requires the necessary tools. In this case, the tools required by the carpenter under levels 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4. Levels 2.5 and 2.6 show the tools required by the mason to make repairs and mend where necessary.
Resources – No construction work goes without the necessary materials. Resources different from tools in that in the end they will be part of the counter. Tools are the items that are required to have the resources used bond. As such, tools connect resources that they become a single thing which in this case is a counter.
From the above analysis of levels, we can deduce that the WBS requires different levels of attention. For instance, knowing the kind of tools to have available depends on whether or not the two people involved have to work together or separately. As things stand, level 2 which comprises levels 1, 2, and 3 must have a perfect combination that ensures 100% performance of the project at level 1 which is the shop counter. Sublevel 1 containing people is as important as sublevel 3 containing resources. That is based on the fact that you can’t have tools indicated at sublevel 2 if you have not identified the people who are going to use them.
Part 2
Scope Creep
Scope creep refers to the amount of extension or ‘creep’ a project undergoes when its scope changes (Madhuri, et al., 2016). For instance, when building a website, the programmer has the details in their head or written down in the form of a planner. However, during the process of building the process, the programmer might decide to add a few details that might change the plan or project from its original setting. In this case, chances of failure are increased which might subsequently lead to increased costs that could have been avoided if the original plan was adhered to (Madhuri, et al., 2016).
Examples of Scope Creep
The failure of the Denver International Airport’s Luggage handling System
At a pre-planned cost of less than $200 million, the upgrading of the Denver International Airport’s luggage handling system ended up adding $560 million over budget (Harden, 2015). The inflated cost which involved Denver residents incurring $1.1 million costs per day during the delay of the project can be connected to poor planning. During the initial launch of the project, the idea was to replace manual handling of luggage with an automated one. At the time, the project was ambitious and it was viewed by many as one of the best in the world. However, the project stalled and the government was forced to call it off although it had already incurred significant costs.
The reasons behind the project’s creep can be connected to the fact that the airport authorities as well as airlines were not consulted (Harden, 2015). By the time their opinion was sought, the project was well underway. The project did not also pay attention to the amount of time required for it to be completed considering how complex it was. It ended up taking 16 more months for its completion. Also, different companies had given the warning that the project was too complex and required being changed. However, the city’s authorities went ahead and launched the project anyway leading to a catastrophe.
How Denver’s creep could have been avoided
Every project bears success to the incorporation of the necessary parties. In Denver’s case, the project would have been saved if the authorizes had consulted airlines that use the airport during the initial planning stages (Harden, 2015). On the other hand, the project should have consulted similar projects such as the one that had been undertaken in Munich airport that was simpler and took a longer time than the one set for Denver (Harden, 2015).
Chrysler’s PT Cruiser Launch Scope Creep
When Chrysler decided to launch its Chrysler PT Cruiser, the company welcomed many dealers to their showroom and promised to deliver the cars to them. However, the company did not put into consideration the fact that dealers have customers whose deals have to be honored based on time (Scheid, 2010). By the time the company started making the distribution; most dealers were at odds with their customers whose deliveries were overdue. The problem comes from the fact that Chrysler did not incorporate showroom delivery times during its project designs, production, and advertising. In the end, dealers lost their customers with a rippling effect that crippled Chrysler’s production plants (Scheid, 2010). The company’s idea of letting dealers deal with the problem led to nasty calls from the dealers and conflicting ideas as the company tried to satisfy them all.
How Chrysler could have avoided the dilemma
When designing a new project, it is important to consider all the details from middle parties to customers or the benefactors. If the company had considered dealers’ customers in their plans, it would have enquired about customer deadlines and know how to manage their project to avoid delays. On the other hand, the company should have adopted an approach of involving customers in their production through a mutual association with the dealers that would have helped them share the burden arising from delivery delays.
References
Harden, M. (2015). DIA20: The high-tech airport baggage system that failed to launch .
Bizjournals.com. Retrieved 5 June 2020, from https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/broadway_17th/2015/02/dia20-the-high-techairport-baggage-system-that.html .
Madhuri, K. L., Rao, J. J., & Murthy, S. V. (2016). Scope creep: implications on customer satisfaction index in software industry. International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management , 19 (1), 21-37.
Robinson, B., Ryan, M., & Abbasi, A. (2018). Analytical observations of work breakdown structure parameters. In Systems Engineering Test and Evaluation Conference 2018: Unlocking the Future Through Systems Engineering: SETE 2018 (p. 427). Engineers Australia.
Scheid, J. (2010). Real Life Examples of Scope Creep - What Is Scope Creep? Brighthubpm.com. Retrieved 5 June 2020, from https://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/94628-examples-of-scope-creep/.
