Work breakdown structure
Purpose. Decompose scope into estimable, assignable, verifiable work, and define each element precisely enough that two people agree on what it means.
Structure
1. Project
├── 1.1 Planning and preparation
│ ├── 1.1.1 Kick-off
│ ├── 1.1.2 Requirement confirmation
│ └── 1.1.3 Access and tooling
├── 1.2 AWS account setup
├── 1.3 Network and baseline IaC
├── 1.4 Migration execution
├── 1.5 DevOps practices and design
├── 1.6 Security and observability
├── 1.7 Testing
├── 1.8 Knowledge transfer
└── 1.9 Closure
Summary table
| WBS ID | Task | Phase | Owner | Days | Start | End | Dependencies | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1.1 | Kick-off | Planning | PM | 1 | — | |||
| 1.1.2 | Requirement confirmation | Planning | Tech lead | 3 | 1.1.1 | |||
| 1.1.3 | Access and tooling | Planning | DevOps | 2 | 1.1.1 | |||
| 1.2.1 | Organisation and accounts | Account setup | Cloud engineer | 3 | 1.1.3 | |||
| 1.2.2 | Identity and SSO | Account setup | Cloud engineer | 2 | 1.2.1 | |||
| 1.2.3 | Guardrails | Account setup | Security | 2 | 1.2.1 | |||
| 1.3.1 | VPC and subnets | Network | Cloud engineer | 3 | 1.2.2 | |||
| 1.3.2 | Baseline Terraform modules | Network | DevOps | 4 | 1.3.1 | |||
| 1.4.1 | Data migration rehearsal | Migration | Data lead | 4 | 1.3.2 | |||
| 1.4.2 | Cutover | Migration | Data lead | 2 | 1.4.1 | |||
| 1.5.1 | CI/CD pipelines | DevOps | DevOps | 5 | 1.3.2 | |||
| 1.6.1 | Security controls | Security | Security | 4 | 1.3.2 | |||
| 1.6.2 | Monitoring and alarms | Observability | DevOps | 4 | 1.5.1 | |||
| 1.7.1 | Functional testing | Testing | QA | 3 | 1.5.1 | |||
| 1.7.2 | Load testing | Testing | QA | 2 | 1.7.1 | |||
| 1.8.1 | Documentation | Handover | Tech lead | 3 | 1.7.2 | |||
| 1.8.2 | Training and game day | Handover | Tech lead | 3 | 1.8.1 | |||
| 1.9.1 | Acceptance and closure | Closure | PM | 2 | 1.8.2 |
Dictionary entry template
Repeat for each WBS element.
[WBS ID] — [Task name]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | What the work is and what it achieves |
| Deliverables | Specific outputs |
| Assigned resources | Person or team accountable |
| Timeline | Start and end |
| Dependencies | Work that must complete first |
| Acceptance criteria | Conditions that make it complete |
| Cost / effort | Days or cost |
| Risk | What could affect it |
| Status | Not started / in progress / blocked / complete |
Worked example
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| WBS ID | 1.3.1 |
| Description | Provision the production VPC across two Availability Zones with public, application and data subnets |
| Deliverables | Terraform module; deployed VPC; network diagram; flow logs enabled |
| Assigned resources | Cloud engineer |
| Timeline | 14–18 July |
| Dependencies | 1.2.1 accounts created; 1.2.2 identity configured |
| Acceptance criteria | Subnets in two AZs; flow logs on; no public IP on workload subnets; terraform plan clean; diagram reviewed |
| Cost / effort | 3 days |
| Risk | CIDR overlap with on-premises ranges delays design |
| Status | Not started |
Tracking
| Report | Frequency | Owner | Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Task status | Stand-up | Assignee | Progress, blockers |
| Phase status | Weekly | PM | Completed deliverables, variance |
| Milestone | Per milestone | PM | Deliverables and acceptance |