Module 6 of 12 · Project Planning

Break Down the Work

A contract gives you scope in paragraphs. Before you can schedule it or staff it, you have to turn those paragraphs into tasks you can resource and price. That is the Work Breakdown Structure — the foundation of every plan.

Illustrated module guide · the complete walkthrough · companion to the Quick Reference
Where this fitsBehavior Establishing ClarityOutcome 1 · Defined Scope & Aligned CommitmentsLifecycle Initiation & Planning
Recall — before you begin

Finance showed you that effort can quietly outrun earned value. Before you can plan, price, or protect a single hour of effort — what has to exist first?

The work, broken down. You cannot estimate, assign, or track effort until the scope is decomposed into tasks — the Work Breakdown Structure.
1

The problem

A scope statement is not a plan

Finance taught you that a project can be on budget and still lose money, because effort outran earned value. You cannot manage effort you never planned — and you cannot plan work you have not named. Planning starts here.

When the contract is signed, your scope lives in paragraphs of legal prose: “The Architect shall prepare Design Development Documents to fix and describe the size and character of the Project…” That sentence is a promise. It is not a task, it cannot be assigned to anyone, and it cannot be priced. The first act of planning is to translate contract language into work you can actually run.

That translation answers planning’s first three questions, in order — and that is exactly this module:

  1. 1
    What is the work? Decompose the scope into a Work Breakdown Structure — phases, deliverables, work packages, tasks.
  2. 2
    Which roles should do it? Soft-resource each task to the lowest level that can do it competently.
  3. 3
    How much does it cost? Budget the work: estimate hours per role, price it, roll it up against the fee.

Get the breakdown right and everything downstream — schedule, staffing, the fee itself — finally has something solid to stand on.

Next module

Module 6 answers What, Which role, and How much. Module 7 takes the breakdown you build here and answers the last two questions — When (the schedule) and Who (staffing) — using Logic-Based Planning.

?Pause & predict.

A PM reads the DD scope clause, agrees it’s clear, and tells the team “let’s get going on DD.” What did they skip — and what breaks three weeks later?

They skipped the breakdown. “Do DD” can’t be assigned, estimated, or tracked. Three weeks in, nobody can say what’s done, who owns what, or whether the hours are on pace — because the work was never turned into tasks.
2

Step 1 of 3 · What is the work?

The WBS hierarchy

Four levels, from billing phase to assignable task

A Work Breakdown Structure is a hierarchy. You decompose the project in four levels, each one more concrete than the last, until you reach tasks small enough to hand to one person and check off.

1

Major Project Phase

A billing phase of the contract.e.g. Schematic Design · Design Development · Construction Documents

↓
2

Project Deliverable

A physical thing the phase produces.e.g. Floor Plans · Building Elevations · Reflected Ceiling Plans · Roof Plan · Outline Specifications

↓
3

Work Package

A major component of a deliverable.e.g. Partition & room layout · Egress & code overlay · MEP coordination of the floor plan

↓
4

Task

An element assigned to a resource to complete.e.g. Draft partition types · Run egress capacity calc · Tag wall ratings · Coordinate column grid

The test for the bottom level is strict: a real task is one you can name, hand to one role, estimate in hours, and know when it is done. “Floor plans” is a deliverable, not a task. “Draft dispatch-floor partition types and tag wall ratings” passes all four tests.

3

Step 1 of 3 · worked example

Scope → WBS

Decomposing a real Design Development scope

Here is how it works in practice on the Oakhaven Public Safety Campus. The DD agreement contains a handful of scope statements. Take each one and pull it apart, level by level, until you reach assignable tasks. Click a contractual scope statement to watch it decompose.

Selected scope — pick one below.
In the workbook

2026 Project Budgeting Spreadsheet: the phase tabs (SD, DD, CD…) are level 1; the rows you add inside each are your deliverables, work packages, and tasks. A clean WBS is what makes the spreadsheet meaningful instead of a wish.

?Pause & predict.

Two PMs decompose the same DD scope. One stops at “Floor Plans — 200 hours.” The other breaks Floor Plans into six work packages with tasks. Whose budget will leadership trust — and whose project can be tracked in week three?

The one who broke it down. “Floor Plans — 200 hrs” is a guess no one can check. Six work packages with named tasks is an estimate you can defend and a project you can measure — task by task — as it runs.
4

Step 2 of 3 · Which roles?

Soft-resource it

Assign each task to the lowest level that can do it right

With tasks in hand, decide which role each one belongs to — a role, not yet a named person. That is soft-resourcing. The rule is precise: assign the work to the lowest skill level that can complete it competently and responsibly, and therefore the lowest cost.

“Lowest” is not “cheapest body.” A Principal redlining partition types burns margin for no added value; a Design Intern sealing a code plan is not cheap — it is malpractice. The right level is the floor at which the work is still done right. Move the task below it and quality fails; above it and margin leaks.

One DD task — draft the dispatch-floor plans & partition types, estimated at 40 hours. Soft-resource it to different roles and watch the cost:

Role rate
—
Task cost
—
vs. a Principal
—
5

Step 3 of 3 · How much?

Budget it

From task to cost, in one chain

Budgeting a task is a short, repeatable chain. You already have the task and the role; now estimate the hours, price them at the role rate, and you have the cost of the work. Do it for every task, roll the tasks up to a work package, the packages to a deliverable, and the deliverables to the phase — then hold the total against the fee.

Task→Role→Est. hours→× rate = cost→Roll up vs. fee
Oakhaven DD — “Dispatch floor plans” work package Principal — select approach & QA the package4 hrs × $335$1,340 Project Manager — direct the work, coordinate MEP10 hrs × $180$1,800 Architect — develop the plans & partition types40 hrs × $170$6,800 Design Professional — draft, tag, and dimension36 hrs × $130$4,680 Work-package cost$14,620 Blended across four roles — not four Principals. Each task sits at its competent floor; the margin is built in, not hoped for.
This is the “Task → Role → hours → cost” chain made real. Repeat it for every work package, sum to the phase, and you can see your margin before a line is drawn.
Do it now

The module’s Quick Reference is a live Budget Builder — seeded with this Oakhaven phase and priced on the 2026 Grace rate card. Change a role or move hours and watch the margin move.

6

The close

The foundation everything stands on

Three questions, answered in order, turn contract language into a plan: What is the work (the WBS), which roles do it (soft-resource), and how much it costs (the budget). Skip the breakdown and there is nothing to schedule, nothing to staff, and nothing to defend — just a number and a hope.

You cannot manage what you have not broken down.

With the work broken down, soft-resourced, and budgeted, you finally have the raw material for the rest of planning. Module 7 picks it up from here — sequencing the tasks into a schedule and resourcing the plan onto real people, using Logic-Based Planning for design.

Apply on your project

Take one active project’s current phase. Pull one contractual scope clause and decompose it on paper: phase → deliverable → work package → three tasks you could hand to someone tomorrow. If a “task” fails the four-part test, break it down further.

Challenge — from memory

?Challenge — from memory.

From memory: name the four levels of a WBS, and the four-part test for a real task.

Levels: Phase → Deliverable → Work Package → Task. A real task you can name, hand to one role, estimate in hours, and know when it is done.

Module 5 throughline

You cannot manage what you have not broken down. The Work Breakdown Structure turns a promise into a plan you can resource, price, and control.

Open the Budget Builder →On to Module 7 — Schedule & Staff →