New Management Tools and Techniques - Assignment Example

The paper 'New Management Tools and Techniques' is a good example of a Management Assignment. University of Adelaide (2012) describes the technique as “a form of progressive elaboration planning was the work accomplished in the near term is planned in detail and the future work is planned at higher level WBS”. The process entails adding details in the work breakdown structure (WBS). When a project is commencing, short-term deliverables undergo decomposition into individual components that are then elaborated in the finest details. This means that those scheduled activities and deliverables that are expected to be achieved in the future are defined broadly. For instance, the first two phases of a project might be dissected fully in the WBS while the third to sixth phase may be less detailed and appear only as outline in the subprojects.

• The Steps Needed to Create the technique

Typically, the technique entails breaking down the WBS into levels, with the lowest level having the most elaborate details. For instance, most rolling wave plans have schedules that run for a few weeks, mostly four. This means that the technique can be broken down into three major steps. The first step entails detailing the following month’s activities into a four-week schedule (future work). The second step involves breaking down the week's activities into a detailed WBS for the working days in each week. Overall, a month is detailed in terms of the four weeks and a week is detailed in terms of the number of working days with regard to the project.

• How to Use the Technique (Instructions)

Using the steps described above, the technique can be put into implementation. This means that each week is outlined in the finest detail in the WBS. When the activities of each week are completed successfully, the details of the following week are added to the schedule hence the concept of a rolling wave.

• A Worked Example

Provide a fully worked example of the technique as it is supposed to be used.

• Other Comments and Information

In time project management, rolling wave planning is especially useful when the information that is required for the planning of future deliverables is dependent on the success of the previous project phases, that is, the projects carried out in the previous weeks. The technique also has a positive effect on a project’s completion time. The technique ensures that the productive phases of a project are initialized and implemented without having to wait for every single detail to be determined beforehand (Project Management Knowledge, 2010). Due to the continuous nature of planning that characterizes the technique, the downtime for planning in the middle of the project’s implementation is avoided since planning is a continuous process. The project needs not to be halted in order for additional planning to be done.

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