Julia Moser·
Decomposed our office move into a numbered WBS plus a tree diagram with owners and dependencies. Printed it, taped it to the wall, done arguing.
Breaks any project into a numbered work breakdown structure with owners, dependencies, and a text tree diagram.
Project to WBS Decomposer
You are a project planner. Decompose the following project into a work breakdown structure (WBS).
Project: {{project_description}}
Hard deadline: {{deadline}}
Available people/roles: {{team}}
Known constraints: {{constraints}}
Rules for the decomposition:
1. Use standard WBS numbering (1, 1.1, 1.1.1). Go at most three levels deep. Level 1 items are phases or major deliverables, level 3 items are tasks a single person can own and finish in five working days or less. If a task would take longer, split it.
2. Every leaf task gets: an owner (from the team list — assign by plausible role fit and balance the load), a duration estimate in days, and its dependencies by WBS number. Mark tasks with no dependencies as "start anytime".
3. Follow the 100% rule: the children of each item must cover all the work of the parent — no orphan work. After the WBS, list anything from my description you could NOT place, rather than silently dropping it.
4. Render the full structure additionally as an ASCII tree diagram, one line per item, with the owner in brackets.
5. Identify the critical path through the dependency chain and state the minimum project duration it implies. If that duration exceeds the deadline, say so plainly and propose which tasks to parallelize or de-scope.
6. End with the 5 riskiest items — tasks that are on the critical path AND have external dependencies (vendors, landlords, authorities).
Keep estimates honest: when my description gives no basis for an estimate, mark it [ASSUMED] instead of inventing confidence.
Ergebnisse
## WBS: Office Move — 45 Employees, Deadline Sept 30
### 1. Preparation & Contracts
- 1.1 Finalize lease for new site — Owner: Julia, 5d, start anytime
- 1.2 Terminate old lease per notice terms — Julia, 2d, depends 1.1
- 1.3 Select moving company (3 quotes) — Thomas, 5d [ASSUMED], start anytime
### 2. New Office Fit-Out
- 2.1 Floor plan & seating chart — Sandra, 4d, depends 1.1
- 2.2 Order furniture — Sandra, 3d, depends 2.1
- 2.3 Network & server room installation — IT (Marc), 5d, depends 2.1
- 2.4 Access badges & alarm setup — Marc, 2d, depends 1.1
### 3. The Move
- 3.1 Packing & labeling system rollout — Thomas, 2d, depends 1.3
- 3.2 IT equipment teardown — Marc, 2d, depends 3.1
- 3.3 Physical move (vendor) — Thomas, 3d, depends 3.1, 3.2, 2.3
- 3.4 IT re-setup & smoke test — Marc, 3d, depends 3.3
### 4. Communications & Admin
- 4.1 Staff comms plan & move guide — Julia, 3d, start anytime
- 4.2 Address changes (registry, insurers, clients) — Nadine, 4d, depends 1.1
- 4.3 Old office handover & deposit — Thomas, 2d, depends 3.3
**Unplaced items:** "maybe repaint the old office" — clarify whether the lease requires it (affects 4.3).
### Tree
```
Office Move
├── 1 Preparation [Julia]
│ ├── 1.1 New lease [Julia]
│ ├── 1.2 Old lease notice [Julia]
│ └── 1.3 Moving company [Thomas]
├── 2 Fit-Out [Sandra]
│ ├── 2.1 Floor plan [Sandra]
│ ├── 2.2 Furniture [Sandra]
│ ├── 2.3 Network install [Marc]
│ └── 2.4 Badges/alarm [Marc]
├── 3 Move [Thomas]
│ ├── 3.1 Packing system [Thomas]
│ ├── 3.2 IT teardown [Marc]
│ ├── 3.3 Physical move [Thomas]
│ └── 3.4 IT re-setup [Marc]
└── 4 Comms & Admin [Julia]
├── 4.1 Staff comms [Julia]
├── 4.2 Address changes [Nadine]
└── 4.3 Handover [Thomas]
```
### Critical Path
1.1 → 2.1 → 2.3 → 3.3 → 3.4 = **20 working days** minimum. Fits the deadline with ~3 weeks of slack — provided 1.1 closes by end of July.
### Top 5 Risks
1. 1.1 Lease signing (landlord-dependent, everything hangs on it)
2. 2.3 Network install (ISP lead times — order the line NOW)
3. 3.3 Mover availability in September (peak season)
4. 2.2 Furniture delivery times [ASSUMED at 3d admin, actual delivery 4-8 weeks — order by mid-July]
5. 4.2 Registry processing times
Modell: GPT-4o
30 Likes17 SavesScore: 21
2 Kommentare
Grace Williams·
The unplaced-items rule is quietly the most important part. Silent scope-dropping is how moves go sideways.
Anna Hofmann·
Critical path with a plain-language slack statement — this is how deadlines should be communicated to management.