Product Based Planning Demystified – Part 4
Create the Product Breakdown Structure (PBS)
The real world of PRINCE2 product-based planning is divided over the precise sequence of creating the product breakdown structure and the product flow diagram.
Some teams prefer to create the product flow diagram first and then from that information create the product breakdown structure. However, in the PRINCE2 Manual, it is the product breakdown structure that is dealt with next.
The product breakdown structure is a simple hierarchy diagram with categories and sub categories of products, and the products themselves are at the bottom level. The bottom level forms the list of products, from which you can then go on to develop a product flow diagram.
The value of the product breakdown structure is that it allows the planner to visually check that the structure is correct for top downwards and from bottom upwards, and it is easy to see if there have been any products omitted.
The product “box” at the top of the diagram represents the end product of the project.
The products at the lowest level represent of course the actual products of the project!
But check out the products within the middle of the diagram.
You will see that there are two types of intermediate products:
Grouping products. These are not real products but merely a mechanism to group types of products together as an easy way to identify them, and to make sure that nothing is missed out. To avoid confusion, I recommend you name such products as, for example, “software group”.
Integration products. These are real products, and the products beneath them form together, or integrated together, to create the integration product itself.
There is one more type of shape of product, and that is to represent external products. I have used ellipse to identify external products in my example diagram below:
It is quite normal to involve a team of people in the creation of the product breakdown structure and product flow diagram, and therefore highly likely to take place within a workshop and a structured brainstorming session.
Using sticky notes or write board is a good way to create such diagrams.
For each external product there should be a corresponding entry on the risk register detailing the threat to the plan if they are late or not to the required specification.
Product states
When using product based planning, it is important to consider whether to include different states have a particular product. An example of such different states could be “dismantled help desk”, “transported help desk” and “reassembled help desk”.
It may be helpful to identify the different states as different products, where each state would require its own product description with different quality criteria and quality controls. This is of particular use when the responsibility for creating each state will pass from one team to another.
Another way of approaching different states, is for a single product description to be used with a set of quality criteria that the product needs to meet in order to gain approval for each state.
Project stages
If the project is broken down into several stages, then the products for each stage should be taken from the project product breakdown structure to form the stage product breakdown structure.
These may be expanded to more levels of detail and is therefore “extra products” will emerge to give the detail required within the stage plan. It is important to use the same names in the stage plan diagrams as we used within the project plan.
Writing the product descriptions
It would be a mistake to think that the writing product descriptions is just form-filling bureaucracy!
Creating the product description is a thinking exercise that helped you understand the product by encouraging you to write it down on the form. In short, it is there to help you understand each product.
The following will describe the structure of information that is recorded within each product description:
Product description The purpose of a product description is to describe a product’s purpose, composition, where it is derived from, and quality specifications. It is produced at the planning phase as soon as possible after the need for the product is identified. product name or a unique identifier if the project has many products
Version: the current version number of the product description
Purpose: the purpose of the product, how it will be used, and who will use it Composition: list of the product’s components or parts Format: is there a standard appearance to which the finished product must conform?
Derived from: the source of the product, such as a design, a commercial product, an existing system to be upgraded or replaced, or a statement of expected benefits
Quality specifications: the functional and non-functional requirements for the product along with their associated measures
Development or production approach and skills required: description of how the product is expected to be developed or produced; any special skills, facilities, or equipment required
Allocated to: the person or team needed to create this product
Quality tolerance: the ranges within which key quality specifications can vary and remain acceptable
Quality methods and quality skills required: the quality methods (such as verification, test, and inspection) to be used to check that the product meets its quality specification and the indication of skills required to perform the quality control activities Responsibilities: the producer, reviewer, and acceptance authority for the product
… to be continued …
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