Phase vs. Deliverable WBS: Crafting the Right Structure for Ecommerce Agency Success

Ever found yourself deep in the weeds of project planning, staring at a blank canvas for your Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and wondering if you’re building it right? You’re not alone. This exact dilemma recently sparked a lively discussion in a project management community, and it’s a question we at EShopSet hear often from ecommerce agencies.

The core of the debate? How to structure Level 1 of your WBS: should it be driven by project phases (like engineering, procurement, construction) or by the actual deliverables, products, or functional areas you’re creating?

The Old World vs. The New: From O&G to Ecommerce

The original poster, coming from the highly structured world of Oil & Gas (O&G) and EPCI contracts, noted that their industry heavily favors a phase-based WBS. Think of it: you can’t install an oil rig before you’ve procured the parts and constructed the components. The timeline naturally flows from left to right, phase by phase, making it ideal for planning, cost control, and reporting in such environments.

But in the fast-paced IT and ecommerce sectors, things are rarely so linear. As one community member aptly put it, the physical sequencing of O&G projects differs drastically from software development. In ecommerce, you might have UX design, backend development, and infrastructure setup all happening in parallel for the same feature release or even a full ecommerce replatforming project management effort. The phases aren't always distinct enough to drive granular cost control or reporting.

Why Ecommerce Projects Lean Towards Deliverables

This parallel nature of work is precisely why many in IT, and especially in ecommerce agencies handling projects like building a new HubSpot Commerce storefront or migrating a Magento site to a modern platform, gravitate towards a deliverable-based WBS. When you’re building a new Shopify store or integrating a complex payment gateway with HubSpot CRM, your stakeholders often care less about the "development phase" and more about "the product page is live" or "the checkout flow is optimized."

Deliverables – like a functional product page, an integrated payment gateway, or a configured HubSpot Sales Hub pipeline – are tangible outcomes. They represent discrete pieces of value that can be delivered, tested, and often even deployed independently. This approach aligns well with agile methodologies prevalent in software development and provides clearer milestones for both internal teams and clients.

As another contributor highlighted, rigid phase-based structures can become unmanageable when projects are compressed and phases heavily overlap, leading to arbitrary divisions that hinder effective replanning. The flexibility of a deliverable-based approach allows agencies to adapt to evolving requirements and priorities without breaking the entire WBS.

The Hybrid Advantage: Getting the Best of Both Worlds

So, is it strictly one or the other? Not necessarily. A recurring theme in the community discussion was the idea of a hybrid approach. As one project manager asked, "Is it too much to ask for both?" The answer, for many, is a resounding 'no'.

With modern project management tools, you can structure your Level 1 WBS around key deliverables or products, and then use custom columns or tags to layer in phase information. This allows you to explain the WBS to any stakeholder group through their preferred lens while maintaining a consistent and flexible underlying structure.

For an ecommerce agency, this hybrid model is invaluable for agency client communication best practices. Your technical team might organize work around specific features (deliverables), but your client's CFO might still want to see a high-level timeline tied to traditional project phases (e.g., Discovery, Design, Development, Deployment). A hybrid WBS enables you to generate reports that cater to both, providing comprehensive visibility without distorting the actual work structure.

For example, a Level 1 deliverable might be "HubSpot Commerce Storefront Launch." Underneath, you'd have sub-deliverables like "Product Catalog Migration," "Payment Gateway Integration," and "Custom Theme Development." Each of these can then be tagged with its relevant phase (e.g., "Development," "Testing"). This allows for granular tracking of deliverables while still providing a phase-based rollup for executive reporting.

This flexibility is crucial for RevOps, allowing agencies to demonstrate how each deliverable contributes to the client's overall revenue operations strategy and how project progress aligns with business goals.

Implementing a Hybrid WBS for Your Agency

• Start with Deliverables at Level 1: Define the major products or functional areas your project will create. For a HubSpot project, these could be "HubSpot CRM Configuration," "Sales Hub Automation Workflows," or "New HubSpot Commerce Storefront."
• Break Down into Components: Decompose Level 1 deliverables into smaller, manageable components (e.g., for "New HubSpot Commerce Storefront," components might be "Product Page Template," "Checkout Flow," "My Account Area").
• Utilize Tags for Phases and More: Apply phase tags (e.g., "Discovery," "Design," "Development," "QA," "Deployment") to individual tasks or work packages. Beyond phases, consider tags for cost centers, responsible teams, or critical dependencies.
• Integrate with Development Workflows: For developers, linking WBS items directly to code repositories is a game-changer. Implement github project context links within your WBS entries. A WBS item like "Develop Custom Product Filtering Module" can link directly to the relevant GitHub issue, pull request, or even a specific commit range. This provides immediate technical context, enhances transparency, and streamlines collaboration between project managers and developers.
• Tailor Reporting Views: Leverage your project management tools to create dynamic reports. Pivot by deliverable for detailed progress updates or by phase for high-level executive summaries. This adaptability makes your WBS a powerful communication tool.

Ultimately, as several community members affirmed, the choice of WBS structure "all depends" on the project's specific needs, industry norms, contract structure, and reporting requirements. There’s no single universally accepted best practice, but rather a need for intelligent tailoring.

At EShopSet, we understand that managing complex ecommerce projects requires a flexible and robust operational workspace. By adopting a hybrid WBS approach, agencies can ensure clarity, foster better agency client communication best practices, and deliver exceptional results for their clients, whether they're building a new storefront, optimizing a sales funnel with Sales Hub, or integrating diverse systems into a cohesive RevOps strategy.