project-planning

Project Planning

This skill provides comprehensive guidance for planning and managing software development projects effectively.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Breaking Down Large Projects

Project: E-commerce Platform
├── 1. User Management
│   ├── 1.1 Authentication
│   │   ├── 1.1.1 Email/Password Login
│   │   ├── 1.1.2 Social Login (Google, Facebook)
│   │   └── 1.1.3 Password Reset
│   ├── 1.2 User Profiles
│   │   ├── 1.2.1 Profile Creation
│   │   ├── 1.2.2 Profile Editing
│   │   └── 1.2.3 Avatar Upload
│   └── 1.3 Role Management
│       ├── 1.3.1 Admin Role
│       ├── 1.3.2 Customer Role
│       └── 1.3.3 Vendor Role
├── 2. Product Catalog
│   ├── 2.1 Product Listings
│   ├── 2.2 Product Details
│   ├── 2.3 Product Search
│   └── 2.4 Product Categories
├── 3. Shopping Cart
│   ├── 3.1 Add to Cart
│   ├── 3.2 Update Quantities
│   ├── 3.3 Remove Items
│   └── 3.4 Cart Persistence
├── 4. Checkout
│   ├── 4.1 Shipping Address
│   ├── 4.2 Payment Processing
│   ├── 4.3 Order Confirmation
│   └── 4.4 Email Notifications
└── 5. Order Management
    ├── 5.1 Order History
    ├── 5.2 Order Tracking
    └── 5.3 Order Cancellation

WBS Best Practices

1. Start with deliverables, not activities

❌ Wrong (activities):
- Write code
- Test features
- Deploy

✅ Right (deliverables):
- User Authentication System
- Product Search Feature
- Payment Integration

2. Use the 8/80 rule

• No task should take less than 8 hours (too granular)
• No task should take more than 80 hours (too large)
• Sweet spot: 1-5 days per task

3. Break down until you can estimate

❌ Too vague:
- Build API (? days)

✅ Specific:
- Design API endpoints (1 day)
- Implement authentication (2 days)
- Create CRUD operations (3 days)
- Write API documentation (1 day)
- Add rate limiting (1 day)
Total: 8 days

Task Estimation

Story Points

Fibonacci Scale: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21

1 point - Trivial
- Update documentation
- Fix typo
- Change button color

2 points - Simple
- Add validation to form field
- Create simple API endpoint
- Write unit tests for existing function

3 points - Moderate
- Implement login form
- Add pagination to list
- Create database migration

5 points - Complex
- Build user profile page
- Implement search functionality
- Add email notifications

8 points - Very Complex
- Build payment integration
- Implement complex reporting
- Create admin dashboard

13 points - Epic
- Build entire authentication system
- Create complete checkout flow
(Should be broken down further)