Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of the total project work into smaller, more manageable components. The top level represents the project as a whole. Below it are major phases or deliverables. Below those are the individual tasks that can be estimated, assigned to resources, sequenced with dependencies, and tracked to completion. The WBS defines scope — if something is not in the WBS, it is not part of the project.

WBS Levels

A typical WBS has three or four levels:

• Level 1: The project name — the root of the hierarchy
• Level 2: Major phases or deliverable groups (Design, Development, Testing, Deployment)
• Level 3: Sub-phases or deliverables within each phase
• Level 4+: Work packages — individual tasks small enough to estimate and assign

The decomposition continues until each item is small enough to be owned by one person or team, assigned a duration, and linked to its predecessors. These bottom-level items are the work packages that actually appear on the Gantt chart as schedulable tasks.

WBS vs. Schedule

The WBS defines what will be done. The project schedule adds when — assigning durations, start dates, dependencies, and resources to the work packages from the WBS. You need the WBS to build the schedule; a schedule without a clear WBS is a list of tasks without defined scope.

WBS in Maverick

Maverick represents the WBS as a tree of tasks and summary tasks in the task list. Summary tasks are parent tasks containing child tasks; their displayed duration spans the full range of their children. The Gantt chart shows the full hierarchy with collapsible rows. Resources are assigned at the child task level. Maverick's AI chat can help build the WBS from a project description — ask it to "create a WBS for a website redesign project" and it will generate phases and tasks that you can refine.

Related Terms

Project Schedule  ·  Milestone  ·  Task Dependency  ·  Project Baseline  ·  Resource Leveling