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A work package is a part of a project structure plan and therefore a part of the project management. It contains the task-based services that are necessary to reach the defined result by a given date. To maintain stability in the project management, each work package must contain the allowed time, the deliverables and the costs and provide these in a clear and simple fashion. To keep the project control effective, one team member or one group of the project team is responsible for each work package. They provide reports on the progress to the project manager. Depending on the complexity of the project into more manageable components, in order to simplify the planning and control of the project. The progress of the individual work packages can be summated to give a progress for the overall project.
Work Packages are a way for the Project Manager to group work activities together and assign work to a team or Team Manager to produce one or more products. A Work Package is therefore a set of information about one or more required products. A Work Package can contain the following: a Work Package description, product descriptions, techniques to be used, tolerances, date of agreement between PM and TM, how the TM will report to the PM, and Quality information. The purpose of a Work Package is to provide a set of information about one or more required products collated by the Project Manager to pass responsibility for work or delivery formally to a Team Manager or team member. Timeline Work Packages
Sample Work Package
Source data for the Work PackageFormat of the Work Package
Internal team members reporting the Project Manager: The Work Package may be an oral instruction but its still a good idea to write down to avoid misunderstanding. External supplier: There is a need for a formal written instruction in line with standards laid down in that contract, so each Work Package is an agreed contract. Quality Criteria for Work Package
Tips from Frank
Work packages serve to reduce the complexity of large-scale projects. In order to structure the dimensions of a project and make them manageable, it is absolutely necessary to create a project structure plan. The individual subtasks in the work breakdown structure are called work packages. The Initial SituationWith the help of the Work Breakdown Structure, a project becomes clear and editable, but this usually contains only the meta information of the tasks to be completed: Who does what by when. That’s where it starts: The description of the “WHAT” is usually dismissed with a few words in the work package name – it has to be, otherwise the Work Breakdown Structure would become several A4 pages long, which absolutely does not correspond to its actual objective – namely that of clarity. For this reason, a more detailed description of this “WHAT” is required, preferably including the expected result. This is done – as the name suggests – by creating the work package description. Work package descriptionThe work package description is the logical continuation of the work breakdown structure. In the work breakdown structure (WBS), the WBS code, name, dates, responsibility and progress of the work packages are defined and displayed. The task of the work package description is to define exactly which measures are to be taken in the course of processing the work package and what the final result of the work package should be. Basically, any important information can be defined as content of the work package description, such as risk assessment, personnel and budget resources, materials, equipment, infrastructure. The actual content of the work package description has to be redefined from project to project and depends on some essential characteristics (size, complexity, team composition, experience of the team, etc.). While the name of a work package should already be chosen to provide information about what will happen in the work package, the description will reinforce this and ensure that everyone is talking about the same content and, more importantly, the same outcome. Through the definition and written documentation of goals and non-goals of the work package, the individual work packages are separated from each other. This prevents sentences like “We thought you were doing this in your work package” from becoming loud during the course of the project. Objectives of the work package description
The way to work package descriptionBasis is the work breakdown structure planThe work package descriptions are created on the basis of the project structure plan. As a rule, it is the responsibility of the person responsible for the work package in question, since he or she, as a technical expert for the respective topic, knows best what has to happen in his or her work package. He is also responsible for the quality of the results. Coordination of the work package draftsIf all work package descriptions are created in a first draft, the vote follows. This prevents things from being planned twice or forgotten. This is best done in a workshop in which the work package managers sit at a table and the work package descriptions go through and optimise each other point by point. From experience, this approach is more efficient than sending the individual work package descriptions in a circular flow and then merging the comments. Such comments rarely conform and can hardly ever be incorporated immediately without further coordination. This procedure also promotes the mutual comparison of images and creates a common understanding of the overall project. When the work package descriptions are compared together, content and results as well as deadlines and resources are coordinated. The coordination of so-called “bottleneck resources” is essential, such as employees who are planned in several work packages, which may also be processed at the same time. Work package descriptions supplement the Work Breakdown StructureIf all project participants are satisfied with the result, the work package descriptions are filed together with the project structure plan and revised during the course of the project if necessary. If a work package is included in the work breakdown structure during project work, a new work package description must of course be created. The same applies if work packages are merged or deleted – the work package descriptions reflect the project structure plan in a more detailed form and must therefore always be up to date. Three steps to work package description1. Derive work package responsibilities from the project structure planAs a rule, a technical expert on the topic of the work package is nominated. In large projects, however, this is often also a person who is more dedicated to management tasks and coordinates the technical experts. 2. Describe work packages with regard to goals, contents and resultsThe description of the work packages is carried out by the respective work package manager, who also involves other project team members if required. As a rule, this is a technical expert on the content of the work package. 3. Content-related coordination of the work package descriptionsIn a specially planned meeting or workshop, the individual work package descriptions are read crosswise by the project team and the content is coordinated. An efficient way to do this is, for example, a work package vernissage.
Example work package descriptionIdeally, the work package description should be displayed in a structured table. The content of the work package description is variable, but the minimum components are as follows
where the last two pieces of information are the main part of the work package description as they are not covered by the work breakdown structure. Example work package description – detailed variantExample work package description – simple variantWork package description as an annoying duty?The creation of work package descriptions is perceived by most project staff as a cumbersome administrative hurdle for the project manager. However, there are two main aspects which in any case speak in favour of specifying the work packages.
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