70% of projects fail—not out of desire but out of poor planning and execution. When a project fails, your company’s wallet feels it. The solution to this problem: the workpackage.
Short, concise, and chock full of information, neat steps, and a hard deadline, work packages are a project within a project, a step within a step that helps your company define deliverables and, well…deliver them…
OK, they’re awesome. We know that. But what is a workpackage again, exactly?
In short, a workpackage is a group of related tasks within a larger task; a manageable chunk of a project. It’s a smaller set of tasks within the greater task at hand separated from the others due to geographical proximity (e.g., “New York office needs to do A,B, and C”), discipline, department, or technology.
The more complex answer is that the workpackage is the smallest element of the work breakdown structure (WBS), a hierarchical representation that visually defines the project into deliverable “packages” (more on this later).
What is a Work Package?: A Workpackage Example
Imagine you are building a house. Think about it like a project at work—
There are teams involved: the carpenters, roofers, architects, and painters; you can break it down into smaller tasks (paint the deck by tomorrow, finish the kitchen in a month, etc.); and it has an overall manager.
Would you just buy some materials and leave it up to everyone to decide how to put the house together? Of course not. You obviously plan the construction and divide it into tasks. Now imagine that you’ve divided the tasks into smaller chunks for everyone to see. For example:
– Electrical
– Plumbing
– Exterior
Voila! Those are your workpackages. Each package has a smaller subsets of tasks that can be bundled into neat little packages and delivered on time (we hope). Plumbing could contain add the fixtures, tighten the pipes, and run a water pressure check, for example.
It’s just a group of related tasks within a project that can easily be grouped together for seamless deliverability.
What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?
The key to project management is appropriately dividing each task into manageable packages. If work packages in project management are the neat little chunks, the work breakdown structure is the entire hierarchy of tasks organized for maximum efficiency.
More complexly, it is the incremental decomposition of a project into phases and deliverables in a tree-like structure to facilitate the achievement of an objective. It starts at the top level (building a house) and further decomposes into sub-deliverables (plumbing, the roof, the windows, etc.).
Successful projects depend on the manager’s ability to effectively specify what needs to be done and by whom. The WBS is the key tool for planning the entire show. Each descending level of the structure is a more detailed definition of the project component until you reach the basic work package.
The Benefits of a WBS and How to Use Workpackages
The key benefit of the WBS and workpackages is that they provide a structured plan for organizing the project into easily deliverable bites. More detailed benefits include:
– Being able to quickly calculate budget based off department workpackages
– The ability to track projects and notice bottlenecks
– A method for easily giving feedback (did you make it on time? how do you compare to other departments?)
– Easy cost/performance analysis
– A WBS makes it easy to separate tasks based on urgency
And here are a few tips for using one effectively:
– Don’t let workpackages last too long
– Ensure each is assigned to a unique department
– Include as much detail as possible (who, how much, how urgent, etc.)
– All workpackages must be independent within the WBS
– Use tools to make your life easier
If you’ve been wondering “what is a workpackage?” lately, now you know. Breaking down a project into edible bites will help your company follow through and complete projects on time and within budget.
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