GE 121 – Engineering Design Engineering Design GE121 Managing The Design Process Part II Lecture 11B

GE 121 – Engineering Design Work Breakdown Structures: What Must be Done to Finish the Job  Work Breakdown Structure is the most important management tool for Design Projects  Organizes all of a project’s tasks  Best way to tackle a large or difficult task is to break it down into smaller, more manageable tasks

GE 121 – Engineering Design Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)  A Hierarchical decomposition of all of the tasks to be done. Key points:  WBS always breaks down tasks into 2 or more subtasks – no point in a single lower level  WBS should decompose tasks to manageable levels If responsibility cannot be assigned easily, or time and other resources determined easily, then break the task down further  WBS should be complete There should be no tasks which consume resources which are not on the WBS (at least by inclusion into another task.) Tasks such as reporting on or managing the project must be included

GE 121 – Engineering Design Work Breakdown Structure (cont’d)  Activities should “add up” to the next level  All the subtasks below a task should completely describe all the work being done in that task  There should be no subtasks which are tied to two tasks above  WBS is not an organization chart or a schedule

GE 121 – Engineering Design Generic Work Breakdown Structure May be Helpful for Your Own Project! (Fig 10.3 – p256) You should be finished the first 2 columns. The remainder must be planned and executed by the end of term!

GE 121 – Engineering Design Generic Work Breakdown Structure (continued)  Due to space limitations previous WBS did not show great detail for all of the tasks  Each Top Level Task could have its own page to allow for more detail  You may want to provide more detail for your own WBS

GE 121 – Engineering Design Example WBS – Hardware Development Note that Power Supply Design (3.2.4) could have its own WBS similar to Generic WBS shown previously Fig p259

GE 121 – Engineering Design Non-Graphical WBS Includes Auto Design, Assembly Plant, Tooling / Equipment Fig p260

GE 121 – Engineering Design Summary  WBS is a tool for a project team to ensure their understanding of all the tasks needed to complete the project!

GE 121 – Engineering Design Activity  Use Figure 10.1 (page 256, Text) as a starting point for a Work Breakdown Structure for your Project  Add detail as necessary, and assign resources (time) to each task