Printable Work Breakdown Structure Planner PDF

• productivity

My quest for productivity tools and techniques continues – today delivering a work breakdown structure planner for all to download and enjoy (well I hope at least).

Background and Inspiration
When starting a project of any reasonable size, I always find it to be pragmatic to breakdown what needs to be done into manageable chunks. It was nice then to have this concept reiterated by the executive manager of the department in which I work, suggesting that all staff in his department involved with projects should be using a work breakdown structure diagram to get started.

After seeing his example, it was clear the work breakdown structure diagram was an obvious productivity tool for assisting with the “breaking down” process. Additionally, a quick google search turned up Wikipedia’s article on the topic. This article is of particular interest as it has some high level detail on the “100% Rule” and demonstrates nicely what it termed “progressive elaboration”.

Liking what I saw, I set out to create a single page PDF that demonstrated the work breakdown structure technique using the 100% rule. The result can be downloaded below. I would really appreciate some feedback, and am certainly happy to make any modifications based on suggestions or requests. Additionally if you are working in application development or project management fields, and you have other tools that you would like to see in the paper tools series let me know.

For a quick peek at what the tool looks like, see below:

Downloads
Work Breakdown Structure Planner PDF (A4)

Feedback and Comments
Feedback and comments are welcome and appreciated on the tool. If you have suggestions for modification, or places where it has been useful to you then please let me know.