What’s a WBS Dictionary, and Do I Need One?

/in /by

What’s a WBS Dictionary, and Do I Need OneA big reason projects with technical deliverables fail is that the PM and team assume everyone understands the deliverables and what it takes to deliver them. A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Dictionary can be a lifesaver in that case. Here is a review of what’s in a WBS Dictionary, along with tips for when it’s needed (or not).

A WBS Dictionary focuses on providing detailed information on each work package in a WBS, including:

    • A description
    • Deliverables and acceptance criteria
    • Key dependencies and assumptions
    • Budget estimates or resource and skill needs
    • Constraints or boundaries, focusing on what each work package doesn’t include

Take the time to develop a WBS Dictionary when:

  • The project requires multiple teams or handoffs. Any time work passes through several groups, such as engineering to procurement or procurement to a vendor, a WBS dictionary helps prevent assumptions from derailing the timeline. If even one team needs clarification on scope, deliverables, or boundaries, developing a WBS Dictionary is worth it.
  • Work packages are complex or technical. Whenever tasks could be interpreted in multiple ways, such as specialized information technology work, regulatory steps, or integration tasks, a dictionary protects the project from ambiguity. It provides teams with detailed descriptions, constraints, deliverable definitions, and acceptance criteria, so no one fills in the gaps with assumptions.
  • Vendor or contract work is involved. If external suppliers provide any part of a project solution, a WBS dictionary helps align the project’s needs with the vendor contract. It provides procurement and vendors with a shared definition of “done” and reduces the headaches and costs associated with change orders.

You can save time by not creating a WBS Dictionary when: 

  • Managing a small or tightly scoped project. If you’re working on a project where team members know each other and are intimately familiar with the tasks and technologies they will use, maintaining a complete WBS dictionary adds bureaucracy. A straightforward, agreed-upon WBS should provide sufficient clarity.
  • Project risk is low and is easy to address. The extra effort to create a WBS Dictionary is worthwhile when significant risk is present. For a low-risk project, it can become just one more thing that takes time and ends up sitting in a file cabinet collecting dust. In many cases, a few work packages where risk lies in the project need WBS Dictionary entries.

 

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 101,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

Aligning Projects with Organizational Strategy

/in /by

Aligning Projects with Organizational StrategyThe most valuable projects support short-term business goals and contribute to achieving strategic objectives. Aligning projects with an organization’s strategy requires specific, often overlooked approaches. Here are some practical techniques:

  • Review the organizational strategy before producing the project charter. Review the entire strategic plan, not just the executive summary. Look for specific objectives, the metrics used to measure them, and the vocabulary used to describe success. Then draft the project charter, mirroring the language used in the strategy to directly connect the project to the organization’s strategy. 
  • Review (or build) an Outcomes Map. Instead of a flowchart to outline process steps to achieve a specific result, Outcome Maps capture the initiatives or projects required to deliver broad strategic initiatives. Review the outcomes map with the sponsor and key stakeholders to make sure they agree that the project will fulfill one or more of the map’s steps. If senior management can’t clearly see how the project supports the pathways outlined in the Outcomes Map, revise the project charter to align with management’s intentions. 
  • Include strategy reviews in status meetings.  At least every quarter, revisit the alignment between the project and organizational strategy. This is important, as strategies can shift. What made sense in January might be off-target by July. Use strategy reviews to confirm the project still supports the current long-term objectives and to determine whether the project approach needs adjustment. 
  • Design project governance with the strategy in mind. Encourage the sponsor or steering committee to go beyond approving budgets and timelines. Propose that they participate to ensure major project decisions support the organizational strategy. To reinforce this, project managers can require teams to explain the strategic rationale for any significant change or new direction. Then, the change review board can evaluate and confirm that rationale before approving any change. 

Take your current project or a recent one and build an outcome map to see how it aligns with the organization’s strategy. If you find a weak link, apply these techniques to beef up the project’s alignment.

For more information on Outcomes Mapping, go to https://www.outcomemapping.org/

 

#4 Popular Course 2025

My course Project Management Foundations was #4 in LinkedIn Learning’s Most Popular courses of 2025. Watch it for free with this link!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 100,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

Leadership Skills for PMs: Edition 12 – Compassion

/in /by

Leadership Skills for PMs Edition 12 – CompassionThe magic behind the success of great project managers isn’t typically technical skill; it’s compassion. While it’s thought of as a “soft skill,” it’s not easy to be compassionate when the pressure is on. But it offers a strategic advantage that transforms how project teams generate results. Here’s how:

  • Compassion creates psychological safety.  Team members who are confident that their project manager cares about them outperform those who feel unappreciated. They know they won’t be reprimanded for raising concerns or admitting mistakes. This means they will be more likely to identify risks, share creative ideas, and go the extra mile to produce deliverables on time. 
  • Understanding each team member produces more realistic planning. Compassionate project managers take time to understand what’s happening in their team members’ lives—they know what drives them, and when they feel overwhelmed. This helps the PM make informed decisions about workload, reasonable deadlines, and resource allocation. As a result, the compassionate manager’s project plans are designed around team members’ unique circumstances, increasing the likelihood of meeting commitments.
  • Compassion reduces burnout and improves retention. Project resource churn is disruptive, as people who leave take vital institutional knowledge with them. Compassionate PMs recognize signs of exhaustion and protect work-life boundaries. This helps keep team members engaged and productive as the project progresses. Compassion helps improve retention, which saves time and money replacing and training staff. 
  • Compassionate project managers promote more effective collaboration. Project managers need to manage competing priorities and challenging stakeholder relationships. With compassion, you can understand the pressures, constraints, and concerns driving each stakeholder.  Instead of viewing difficult stakeholders as obstacles, you recognize them as people with legitimate needs, which leads to productive conversations, effective compromises and better outcomes.
  • Compassion creates teams that people want to join. Some PMs assume that the best project managers get the best team members, which is why they’re so successful. That’s true but perhaps not in the way you think. Team members actively seek to work with compassionate project managers. As a result, those project managers produce better project outcomes. In a business environment where most projects require lots of collaboration and matrix management, compassion yields a competitive advantage that directly impacts delivery quality and speed.

 

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 100,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

Leadership Skills for PMs: Edition 11 – Leverage Processes

/in /by

Leadership Skills for PMs Edition 11 – Leverage ProcessesLeveraging processes helps improve overall efficiency and delivers continuous improvement to projects. Here are ways experienced project managers leverage a process-focused approach to increase effectiveness.

  • Projects are viewed as consistent and predictable.  When project managers follow standardized processes, teams deliver predictable results and stakeholders know what to expect, strengthening trust and credibility. 
  • PMs make better decisions more efficiently (especially when under pressure). Clear processes helps project managers respond efficiently to issues or proposed changes. With documented processes for addressing risks and issues including who examines scope changes and how, PMs ensure that the right people assess impacts when making these significant decisions.
  • Project managers streamline communication. With a documented communication plans, the PM and team leaders consistently and predictably share updates and documents. This reduces confusion and misinterpretation of project status and upcoming activities.
  • Documented processes speed up knowledge transfer. When processes are documented and repeatable, and project control deliverables are methodically updated, project managers can bring new key stakeholders, team members, and even sponsors on board faster and more effectively.
  • Processes reduce risk and boost compliance. Projects are more likely to meet regulatory, contractual, and governance requirements when everyone follows standard processes. Because project audits focus on whether critical processes are documented and followed, defined processes help the PM protect their organization’s reputation and the results they deliver.
  • Processes empower team members. Documented processes help project team members understand what is expected of them, how they must produce their deliverables, and how those deliverables fit into the big picture. Well-crafted work breakdown structures, task data dictionaries, and process-focused deliverable reviews help team members support one another.  This clarity boosts confidence and encourages greater ownership. 

Look through your project documentation to evaluate your project management processes. Find any missing ones or some that could be improved? Pick one each week to document until everything is up to date.

 

For more about processes, check out my Project Management Foundations course and Chris Croft’s Process Improvement Foundations course.

 

Coming Up

As Project Online approaches retirement, organizations face important decisions about the future of their project and portfolio management tools. Bonnie Biafore and Ira Brown will explore several paths for transitioning away from Project Online, discussing options such as Project Server Subscription Edition, Planner Premium, Smartsheet, and also the use of standalone Microsoft Project. Join us for Office Hours on Friday, December 5, 2025 at 11am MT/1pm ET. Click here to join!

 

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 100,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________