Work Breakdown Structure

Annotated Bibliography: Work Breakdown Structure

Pritchard, C. L., & PMP, P. R. (2014). Risk management: concepts and guidance. Auerbach Publications.

This book by Carl Pritchard provides an in-depth discussion of the various project management issues and the current trends in project management. Pritchard is an author, lecturer, and reputable individual in the project management community. He has a vast experience in project management, having written seven project management textbooks and developed the PMP certification exam prep practice website. Pritchard was the second person in the world to acquire a PMI-RMP certification. This book provides insight into the various aspects of project management, including risk concepts, risk management structures, risk breakdown structure, and risk modeling. The book is relevant to the topic as it provides information on how a work breakdown structure (WBS) can be utilized in project management. The insights provided on the functions of a WBS in a project will provide a reference for discussions on the benefits of using a WBS for managing project resources.

Camilleri, E. (2016). Project success: critical factors and behaviours. Routledge.

Emmanuel Camilleri is a lecturer and author in the field on project management and economics. His Project Success book provides a discussion on the issues that define the success or failure of a project. Camilleri conducts an examination of the fundamental factors that influence perceived failure or success. Besides discussing project management, the book goes further into the topic of achieving project success through the utilization of a project success framework. Issues such as leadership, communication, management of information, and risk management in a project are discussed in details, and recommendations provided for managers who are struggling or practicing management of projects and trying to manage conflicting stakeholder expectations and project ambiguity. The role of the WBS is also discussed vastly in the book, making it relevant to the topic. The book will provide information on how to use a WBS to achieve project success.

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Harold Kerzner is the senior executive director for Project Management at the International Institute for Learning in New York and a renowned author. In his book, Kerzner provides several project management cases and discussions for project management learners and managers. The book includes more than 25 project case studies and many discussion questions on the various issues that affect the performance of project management teams. Issues such as project planning and communication are discussed, including a chapter on the importance and role of a work breakdown structure. The author discusses how a project manager should come up with a WBS and the various components that form the WBS. Characteristics of a WBS, such as containing small work elements that are manageable and independent, are discussed in the book. This book will provide sample case studies for the explanation of the development of a WBS and how it should be used for managing projects.

Lock, D. (2017). The essentials of project management. Routledge.

Dennis Lock is an author who specializes in project management, having vast experience in the industry. He has been a project management consultant in Britain and overseas and has been a lecturer at two universities in Britain. He has written many project management books. In ‘The Essentials of Project Management’, the author discusses the WBS as an important tool for the management of project work and resources. He discusses the technique and even provides suggestions for other alternatives for project teams. Lock (2017) provides insights into the issues surrounding the utilization of work breakdown structures and the various aspects that determine the effectiveness of the tool in the management of project resources and the project work. The author makes a number of recommendations for improving the tool’s performance. This book will provide information on the scope of a WBS and its effectiveness.

Crawford, J. K. (2014). Project management maturity model. Auerbach Publications.

Kent Crawford is the founder and chief executive officer of Project Management Solutions Inc., a private company that provides consulting services for the improvement of business performance on issues such as project review, project portfolio management, organizational change management, resource management, and project management maturity advancement. He is also a project management author. In this book, Crawford (2014) introduces and discusses the project management maturity model. The role of the WBS is also a significant part of the project management maturity model and is discussed as one of the effective project management tools. This book will provide a different view of project management, the maturity model, and will provide information on the purpose of a WBS in the management of projects. The propositions of the author and how he has discussed the model will be analyzed to weight its effectiveness in project management.

Andersen, E. S. (2014). Value creation using the mission breakdown structure. International Journal of Project Management, 32(5), 885-892.

Erling Andersen is a project management professor at the BI Norwegian Business School. Andersen is also a project management author and consultant. The role of projects in contributing to value creation in the organization is widely discussed in this book. The author identifies the need for project management tools that can enhance the creation of value and proposes the Mission Breakdown Structure as a project management tool. The various purposes of a WBS and the author’s Mission Breakdown Structure (MBS) are discussed, with benefits such as helping an organization create a project with a clearly defined mission, listed down and discussed. The MBS is a form of WBS that majors on the project mission, and is presented in principle using real-life project cases by the author. The book will be helpful in the provision of information on the various modifications that can be made on the traditional WBS to improve its performance.

Siami-Irdemoosa, E., Dindarloo, S. R., & Sharifzadeh, M. (2015). Work breakdown structure (WBS) development for underground construction. Automation in Construction, 58, 85-94.

The authors of this article were researchers in the field of construction, at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. In this article, the researchers were focused on the development and application of a work breakdown structure for the purpose of underground construction projects. The need for this research was created by the limitation of literature on specific construction areas such as the construction of apartment buildings. The authors conducted research to develop a generalized WBS capable of being customized for complex underground construction projects. The various aspects of an effective and well-structured WBS are discussed by the researchers through literature review, and the benefits of a good WBS for managing a project are analyzed. This article will provide a good example of the process of constructing an efficient WBS for different projects.

Ashtiani, B. N., Jiang, Q., Tayah, M., Welcker, B. L., Patton, T. G., Panvalkar, S. S., & Chan, W. K. T. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,720,737. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

This document provides information on an example of an automated work breakdown structure that was invented by the individuals listed. The project management tool was patented by Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC, and the document contains an explanation of how the automated WBS works. The automated WBS includes a user interface display that has a user input mechanism to enable actuation in order to identify the resources and their capacities. Through data input, the system is able to calculate and show the project resources and their remaining capacities, making it easy to effectively manage the resources and work. This tool is an example of how the WBS can be modified to match the context of a project and the benefits of using an automated WBS for project management. It is relevant to the course since it showcases an example of a modified WBS.

Kohli, A. R. (2017). Enterprise Project Management using Primavera P6 EPPM.

In this article, the author, a researcher at MGM’s College of Engineering and Technology in India, explains the principles of project planning, resource allocation, leveling, and scheduling for construction projects. The author introduces an automated project management system, the Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM), which can be used in the place of the conventional WBS and project portfolio management tools. The automated tool has the capabilities of planning, scheduling, managing resources, and budgeting for construction projects, and is therefore efficient for organizations that wish to make informed project decisions and improve their ability to complete projects on time within the budget. This article is important since it provides a good example of an automated WBS for project management. It also provides a discussion of the benefits accrued from the application of project management tools and provides a different view of project management tools.

Kendrick, T. (2015). Identifying and managing project risk: essential tools for failure-proofing your project. Amacom.

Tom Kendrick is the program director, at the UC Berkeley Extension, for the project management curriculum. He has a vast experience in the project management field and has authored several project management books and articles. In this particular book, Kendrick (2015) provides a detailed discussion of various project management issues and concepts, including the importance of project management, planning for the management of risk, project scope, project constraints management, and project monitoring. The book contains a chapter on project monitoring, where the WBS as a project monitoring and management tool is discussed. The author provides insight into the role of the WBS and how it assists in the monitoring of the project’s progress. This book provides information on how the WBS should be used in a project for efficiency achievement and fulfillment of project objectives.