WBS and the Eisenhower Matrix

What is the WBS of a project?

The WBS of a project (aka Work Breakdown Structure or Hierarchical Structure of Work) is the division of a project into specific results that must be achieved in order to achieve the goals of the project.

As a rule, the project itself is indicated at the top level, below it (at the first level) are the main results, each of which, in turn, is detailed, that is, the next level is always smaller than the previous one in terms of the amount of work and, as a rule, includes 2 or more work packages. At the same time, there may be a different number of levels in different branches of the WBS, depending on the desired degree of detail.

It is important to understand that it is the results of the work that are collected in the WBS, and not the tasks that need to be performed to obtain these results.

Why WBS is needed

WBS is an extremely useful thing in project planning and that’s why:

• WBS is, if not the only one, but definitely the most effective way to visually reflect the entire scope of the project.
• WBS focuses not on the process but on the expected result, and creates the desired “message”.
• Ideally, the customer or his representative and the whole team participate in the development of WBS, which allows a) to provide a unified understanding of the results of the project and its scope b) to see the importance and contribution of individual elements to the overall result.
• With the help of WBS, it is possible to clearly justify the need for finance or human resources, since it is much more difficult to object to the specific volume described than to “yes, what is there to write a system, put a programmer and that’s it.”
• WBS helps to prevent risks and changes, or at least significantly (very significantly!) reduce their likelihood and impact, since this is where many previously unobvious things and “we wanted something completely different” will come up (and this is how it should be, this is what the tool is designed for).
• At the WBS level, it is already possible to define and coordinate project control points (both for decisions on the continuation of the project after the next stage, and for controlling the costs of human and financial resources).

Already at this stage, it would be good to convey to the customer your position “If there are no tasks in WBS, they are not in the project”. Firstly, everyone will try a little more during development or approval, and secondly, you will have a good leverage for the future.

Why should I use WBS:

• Helps to organize projects correctly;
• Provides assistance in describing the content of the project for interested parties;
• Helps to distribute responsibilities;
• Shows the main stages of the project and all control angles;
• Allows you to correctly assess the costs, risks and time of work.

Grouping and decomposition of WBS

The first question that arises at the beginning of the creation of WBS is how to group WBS elements, according to what principle?

The grouping method is usually chosen depending on the project, the main criterion here is to make it clear to you and the team.

Classic variants of WBS grouping:

• According to the stages of the project life cycle (for example, the results of the planning, analysis, development, acceptance phases are described separately, etc.) — this is the simplest and most popular approach, especially if the project follows an approved process and everyone understands what should be at the output of which phase.
• According to the high–level results of the project (the project is divided into key results, for example, a ready-made system, trained users, developed regulatory documentation, coordinated use of the system with government agencies, etc.) — I most often use this option, I like to see the specific results of the project and, in my opinion, this format is better understood by the customer.
• By organizational structure (for example, you, the customer, the contractor (s), etc.) — this option is convenient when you need to strictly delimit responsibility for the results of work.
• About deadlines (for example, by quarters) — if binding to deadlines is critical for the project.
• By technical areas (production, marketing, procurement, etc.)
• By sources of financing (what part of the results is achieved for what means or for what year’s budget, for example).
• By country (I saw this once only on one of the international projects, and it seemed extremely inconvenient).

In a word — you can come up with any version of your own, if only it would be convenient.

Let’s analyze the WBS on the example of planning an event. Suppose there is a task — to organize and supervise a corporate picnic or team building. Using VBS, you can describe and divide tasks as follows:

Planning:?research, budget planning, coordination and approval of the plan, coordination issues.

Food:?menu, shopping, cooking, service.

Playground and activities:?tables and seating, tableware, decoration and equipment, branding.

Participants/guests:?invitations, guest list, special occasions.

Staff:?drivers, cooks, waiters, cleaners.

Headliner: invitation, logistics issue, script/playlist approval.

5 steps to develop a simple WBS structure

To achieve the goals of the project, it is necessary to follow a specific WBS implementation plan.

Start with the concept of the project and the approval of the main points at the top of the hierarchy. Identify all the necessary tasks on which the results will depend. Ideally, the planning and concept definition process should involve the efforts of the entire team. However, each specialist should be responsible for performing a specific task.

1. Approve and sign the project

It can be just a sentence or a paragraph describing the concept and functions of the project after the final stage. This stage of WBS is the basis of any project and, as a rule, is developed by the whole team.

2. Highlight all the key stages

After the first stage is completed, you can proceed to the next.

You may have to divide the task into many stages depending on the nature of your project. As a rule, it depends on the requirements, budget possibilities and time frame.

3. Determine the end results

Formulate for yourself all the points that must be completed during each stage. All of them should have final results. You have to achieve them completely before moving on to the next stage. Each end result should also have its own description, goals and functions.

4. Divide the end results into manageable tasks

After creating the list of final results, add another level of hierarchy to calculate the details. The tasks of the project should be carried out in the form of sections. Any team member or small team will be able to manage them easily.

5. Distribute tasks

The appointment of a person responsible for each part of the work is the last stage of the hierarchy. A specific specialist will be responsible for a specific task. He/she will participate in every stage of the work, which will lead to qualitative results.

A visual example of how WBS works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf2ThUC7Cgg

Let’s summarize the results

The hierarchical structure of work is a common and convenient way to plan IT and any other projects. And if you display it with a Gantt chart, then in this form it greatly simplifies the process of not only planning, but also management. With her you can:

• Set tasks and distribute them among the participants;
• Set deadlines for completing tasks, their duration, progress;
• Establish dependencies between tasks;
• Visualize important key events — milestones;
• Identify the critical path;
• Interact with the team.

The Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix is a method of American President Dwight D. Eisenhower based on the evaluation of tasks according to the criteria important / not important and urgent / not urgent.

This method presents problems in the form of an Eisenhower Solution Matrix (or simply “Eisenhower Matrix”). The horizontal X-axis shows the urgency, from the most urgent on the left to the least urgent on the right. The vertical Y axis shows the degree of importance, from the least important at the bottom to the most important at the top.

The result is four sectors: urgent and important; less urgent but important; less important but urgent; less important and less urgent. You can allocate all your tasks to these sectors to get a clear idea of what needs to be done now and what can (and should) be postponed for later

“I have two types of problems: urgent and important. The urgent ones are not important, and the important ones are always non — urgent,” Dwight Eisenhower

How to use the Eisenhower Matrix

Before filling out the matrix, keep track of what tasks you are performing and how much time they take for a few days. After the observation, put a to-do list in front of you and ask three questions to each:

• Was the task urgent for me?
• Was she important to me?
• Am I the only one who could do it?

Square 1 — urgent and important

Promptly pick up a project while a colleague is on sick leave, close a task that arrived three hours before the deadline, cure a tooth with acute pain — urgent and important things. They require a quick response. Usually such tasks have tangible deadlines and consequences if they are not completed on time. This includes cases that have arisen due to crises or force majeure.

If there are most such tasks. You may have a problem. Tasks in this square are inevitable, because situations and events that cannot be controlled will always happen. But if you focus only on urgent and important matters, you can “earn” chronic stress, emotional burnout and a sense of loss of control over life. This will lead to “internal migration” — cases from the fourth square.

What to do. Try to leave as little to do here as possible. Develop a plan to achieve current goals. Set deadlines, make a schedule. Check at the end of the week what you managed to do, what results you got and what you will do next week. If urgent and important tasks come from outside, think about how to prevent it. For example, talk to your boss, colleagues, or client about reallocating the workload, or change the work plan.

Square 2 — non-urgent and important

Going to the gym, learning languages, studying at educational courses are tasks related not to solving problems, but to personal growth. These cases help to move towards long-term goals with the most valuable results. They may not have a deadline or a deadline, so we often replace non-urgent important tasks with tasks from the urgent list.

A podcast about education will not help you earn more tomorrow, but it will help you plan your educational trajectory in order to earn more in the future. It’s not urgent, but it’s important.

If there are most such tasks. You spend your resources on what you think is important. The stress level is reduced, you will feel even better when you see the first results of your investments.

What to do. This is an ideal situation. Maintain and preserve it as long as possible.

Square 3 — urgent and unimportant

This includes checking e-mail and messengers, mailing documents, washing dishes and other household chores. These are routine tasks, other people are waiting for their results, but this almost does not bring you closer to your own goals. The author of the book “Do it Tomorrow” Mark Forster calls it busy. Being busy makes it difficult to do “real work”.

If there are most such tasks. In this square, you can see the effect of urgency: you can feel the drive from the ticked boxes in front of the to-do list, which mean almost nothing to you. But at the same time there is a feeling that you are doing the wrong thing. Dissatisfaction with yourself and your life is growing.

What to do. Stephen Covey advises delegating such tasks to: delivery services, personal assistants, cleaning service, contractors. If delegation is not possible, reduce their impact on the schedule. For example, turn off messenger notifications, clearly indicate to others how much time you need for a task, and say “no” if there are too many such cases. Another way is to deal with the tasks of the third square, when there is nothing in the first and second.

Square 4 — non-urgent and unimportant

This includes watching TV shows, scrolling through the feed in social networks and sorting emails instead of answering them. These are “time killers”: we spend hours at these classes, but we do not get practical benefits from them in the long run. Of course, the desire to distract, relax, be lazy is natural. Eisenhower himself was criticized for playing golf during working hours. But golf and bridge created a balance between personal time and the stressful work of the president.

In the long run, “time killers” prevent you from achieving important goals. A 2019 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology proves this [2]. Scientists have found a relationship between employees’ leisure time and their productivity the next day. The researchers found out that the workers who watched the programs for a long time the day before came to work with a good mood. But by the end of the week, their mood worsened and their motivation dropped. At the same time, employees who were engaged in sports, yoga, meditation, listened to music and helped others felt calmer and motivated.

If there are most such tasks. You may get stuck in a routine. Because of this, there will be stress and a sense of escapism, escape from problems.

What to do. Fix the time. This will help identify the main “time killers”. When you find them, think about how to replace or limit them.

Conclusion

There are many different techniques and techniques in time management. People are different, and therefore for someone the Eisenhower matrix will be a salvation, and someone will not like it at all. The main thing is to try to manage your time.

When you learn how to properly distribute your affairs, you will realize that you have a lot of free time, you do the main things on time and without haste, you achieve goals one after another, everything is in order, you feel in a cheerful mood and in a good mood.