WBS and Scope Management
100%
The Rule
WBS captures 100% of scope, no more, no less
4
Hierarchy Levels
Epic → Feature → Story → Task in agile
6
INVEST Criteria
Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable
every box sums to its parent · 100% rule
Wedding Project · Sample WBS
how to read this
- › The top box is the whole project. Everything below it must add up to 100% of what the project delivers — no more, no less.
- › Level 2boxes are major deliverables. Pick verbs like "secured," "booked," "signed" — they're outcomes, not tasks.
- › Level 3 boxes are work packages — small enough to estimate cost and duration, large enough to assign one owner.
- › Reception breaks down further into Catering, DJ, Cakebecause it's complex. Other deliverables stay at one level. Decompose only where it helps.
- › The WBS answers WHAT. The schedule answers WHEN. Never mix them up — activities and dates live in the schedule, not here.
INVEST · Story Quality Checklist
Independent
Negotiable
Valuable
Estimable
Small
Testable
Exam Traps
The WBS does not show sequence or dependencies
That is the network diagram. The WBS shows what is included, not when or in what order. Answers that confuse WBS with schedule are wrong.
Work packages are the lowest WBS level, not activities
Work packages are decomposed into activities during schedule planning, not during WBS creation. The exam tests this boundary.
The product backlog is living, the WBS is baselined
A WBS is approved and only changes through integrated change control. A product backlog is continuously refined by the PO. Treat them differently.
The 100% rule cuts both ways
The WBS must capture all required work AND exclude everything that is not required. Extra work is gold plating. Missing work is scope creep waiting to happen.
WBS is NOT a schedule
No dates, no sequence, no dependencies. Just what is in scope broken into work packages.
Scope baseline = 3 documents
Scope statement + WBS + WBS dictionary. All three together, approved, form the baseline.
The top box of the WBS is "our wedding." That is 100% of scope. Every piece of the wedding must fit inside this box.
Break it into venue, ceremony, reception, photography, attire. Each is a deliverable, not a task. You do not "do" a venue — you deliver it.
Break reception into catering, DJ, decor, cake. These are work packages — small enough to estimate cost and duration, large enough to assign.
If you were planning this as an agile project, the same wedding becomes epics (venue, reception) broken into stories that meet INVEST criteria. Same 100% coverage, different vocabulary.
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