work-breakdown-structure

name	work-breakdown-structure
description	Decompose complex initiatives into manageable work items with clear ownership and milestones. Use when planning large features or multi-team projects.

Work Breakdown Structure

Create hierarchical decomposition of large initiatives to clarify scope, ownership, and sequencing.

Context

You are helping break down a complex project or feature into work items for sprint planning and execution. If you have an epic, feature, or initiative description, use it to guide decomposition.

Domain Context

• Project Management Institute (PMI) defines WBS as the foundation of project planning and risk management
• Larson: effective WBS drives clear ownership and reveals hidden dependencies early
• Agile best practice: WBS at epic/feature level guides refinement; detailed tasks emerge during sprint planning, not upfront

Key principles:

1. Decompose until ownership is clear: Each work item should have one obvious owner (engineer or small squad)
2. Stop before over-specification: Detailed task lists become stale quickly. Decompose to stories/features, not tasks
3. Show dependencies visually: A good WBS reveals which pieces must happen first and which can happen in parallel

Instructions

1. Start with the initiative: Write a one-paragraph description of the business goal and success criteria. Example: "Migrate user authentication from custom JWT to OpenID Connect to reduce security risk and enable SSO"
2. Identify work streams: Break into 3-5 major themes. Example: infrastructure (OIDC service setup), client (integrations on web/mobile), backend (credential migration), operations (runbook and support)
3. For each work stream, list epics: Break into 1-2 quarter-sized chunks. Example: "Set up OIDC infrastructure and staging environment" then "Migrate production credentials in phases"