Skip to main content

"Fake it 'til you make it" is a piece of advice that doesn't have an expiration date. If you've been in this crazy field for any length of time, you know that committing yourself to continuous learning is the key to career longevity. Sometimes that means nodding knowingly in a meeting and then looking something up later.

So here, folks, is a resource that you can return to again and again. As terms and technology evolve, so does this handy little (or not-so-little) glossary. Bookmark it so you can be in the know, or at least look like you are, any time a new bit of jargon shows up.

Project Management Terms

A  |  B  |  C  |  D  |  E  |  F  |  G  |  H  |  I  | K  |  L  |  M  |  N  |  O  |  P  |  Q  |  R  |  S  |  T  |  U  |  V  |  W


A

Activity 

Activity is a component of work, or work package, performed during the course of a project. An activity is the smallest unit of project work, and is often associated as part of a task that forms the basis of a project. Breaking down work into small tasks is useful for identifying the component parts for accurate estimating, timeline development, and statements of work.

Activity Sequencing

Activity sequencing refers to the process of identifying and documenting dependencies among schedule activities within a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

Agile Board

This is usually actually a Kanban board reference. It can be a physical board or function within a project management tool used to keep track of team progress.

Agile Manifesto

A set of values and principles that guides an agile development team to create better quality software faster.

Agile Project Management

Agile project management methods follow agile principles that encourage development iterations, teamwork, stakeholder involvement, objective metrics, and effective controls.

Analogous Estimating

A form of expert judgment that relies on referencing historical similar projects to predict estimates for current projects.

Assumptions

Assumptions are any factors, usually listed in a statement of work (SoW) or estimate, that you assume to be held in place—either by the client or yourself—to ensure the ongoing validity of your document, and the outcome of the project.

Assumptions Analysis 

Assumptions analysis is a technique that explores the accuracy of assumptions and identifies risks to the project from their inaccuracy, inconsistency, or incompleteness.

Back to the top

B

Backlog

A backlog, in simplest terms, is a list of everything that needs to be done in order to complete a project. In software, and especially when working in Scrum or Kanban, the backlog is often called a “product backlog” and is made visible to the project team as a list or task board.

It might include technical items as well as user-centric items. Sometimes, a backlog is used as a replacement for traditional requirements specification documents. In the sprint planning process, any backlog stories will be moved into the sprint where responsible software developers or other team members work on them.

Backlog Grooming or Refinement

Backlog grooming is a regular event in which the product owner and members of the project team review the backlog to prioritize pending items based on customer and business needs.

Backward Pass 

Backward pass is the calculation of late finish dates and late start dates for the uncompleted portions of all scheduled activities. It's determined by working backwards through the schedule network logic from the project’s end date.

Balanced Scorecard

A balanced scorecard is a performance management tool which began as a concept for measuring whether the smaller-scale operational activities of a company are aligned with its larger-scale objectives in terms of vision and strategy.

Baseline

A baseline is the original schedule, cost, or scope; a point of reference against which all future progress or changes are compared. Whenever changes to the project take place, a new revision of the baseline is created so that you can track changes to the project.

BOSCARD

BOSCARD is acronym for background, objectives, scope, constraints, assumptions, risks, and deliverables. It refers to a strategic planning tool used to provide the terms-of-reference for new projects.

Bottom-up Cost Estimating

Bottom-up estimating is the process of creating a detailed estimate for each work component (labour and materials) and accounting for each varying cost burden. These estimates are based on the WBS and the WBS dictionary, as these documents define each element of the project deliverables.

Brainstorming

A data gathering and creativity technique that can be used to identify risks, ideas, or solutions to issues by using a group of team members or subject-matter experts. Typically, a brainstorming session is structured so that each participant’s ideas are recorded for later analysis.

Budget

A budget is an approved document that presents the total financial resources needed to complete a project, any work breakdown structure component, or any schedule activity project.

Burn Charts

Burnup and burndown charts show the number of tasks needed to complete the project or phase of the project. A burnup chart shows the accumulation of tasks toward the project completion. The burndown chart shows the diminishing number of tasks left to complete the project work. Burn charts are often used in Agile project management.

Burn Rate

Burn rate is the rate of consumption of project resources and budget, against tasks. A high burn rate would be found on a large project with lots of resources so the daily cost, or burn rate, is high.

Business Case

A document recording the justification for starting a project. It describes the benefits, anticipated ROI, costs, and impact, plus a calculation of the financial case.

Back to the top

C

Capacity Planning

The goal of capacity planning is to predict whether your existing supply of resources will be sufficient to achieve project objectives.

CAPM

The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) is a certification in project management managed by the Project Management Institute in accordance with their published ANSI standard 'A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge.'

Change Control

Change control (or change management) is the practice of identifying, documenting, approving, and carrying out changes within a project.

Change Log

The change log is a document that records changes in a project. It documents the potential impact, the change request status, and relevant information about each change request.

Closing Processes 

Processes performed to formally terminate all activities of a project or phase and transfer the completed product to others, or close out a canceled project.

Co-location 

Co-location means being in the same place; project team members are physically located close to one another in order to improve communication, working relationships, and productivity.

Communication Management Plan

This is a formal or informal plan that describes the communications needs and expectations for the project; how, when and where information is to be communicated and who is responsible for providing each type of communication. The communication management plan forms part of the project management plan.

Constraints

Constraints are factors that you cannot change, but which should be considered during the life of the project. These may include deadlines, regulatory requirements, and dependencies on other projects to deliver.

Contingency Plan

Contingency plan is a plan B, which is often a second best option. It is put in place when plan A fails.

Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

As code changes throughout an agile development process, CI/CD helps ensure that developer changes don't break existing functionality. CI/CD allows developers to push to production frequently while mitigating risk.

Cost Estimating

Cost estimating is the process of calculating costs, by phase, of the resources required to complete tasks, or project work.

Cost Variance

Cost variance is the difference in the sum of budgeted expense vs actual expense. A negative variance means that more money was spent than was budgeted for it.

Crashing 

This is a project schedule compression technique performed by taking action to decrease the total project schedule duration after analyzing a number of alternatives to determine how to get the maximum schedule duration compression for the least additional cost. Typical approaches for crashing a schedule include reducing scheduled activity durations and increasing the assignment of resources on scheduled activities.

Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)

Critical chain project management is a method of planning and managing projects that puts more emphasis on the resources needed to carry out project tasks.

Critical Path

The critical path is the sequence of activities that must be completed on time for the entire project to be completed on schedule. If an activity on the critical path is delayed by one day, the entire project will be delayed by one day unless another activity on the critical path can be finished a day earlier than planned. Many project management software tools have critical path functionality built in.

Critical Success Factor

A factor identified as essential to achieving a successful project.

Back to the top

D

Daily Scrum

A daily Scrum (or daily stand-up) is a meeting that occurs every day to get everyone on the same page, celebrate incremental progress, and help identify any potential roadblocks. It usually lasts around 10-15 minutes, and everyone in the project or Scrum team participates.

Definition of Done (DOD)

A set criteria established by the development team which must be met when completing any task or user story in order for it to move onto further stages in an agile process; items such as user acceptance tests are included in DOD criterion checks.

Deliverable

A tangible or intangible object produced through project execution. A deliverable can be created from multiple smaller deliverables.

Delphi Technique

A method used to estimate the likelihood and outcome of future events. A group of experts exchange views, and each individually gives estimates and assumptions to a facilitator who reviews the data and issues a report. This process continues until consensus is reached.

Dependencies

Any events or work that are either dependent on the outcome of the project or the project will depend on.

Digital Project Management

Digital project management is the practice of ‘making stuff happen’ in a digital world. Digital project management describes the leading of teams and stakeholders to plan and execute projects, by organizing and motivating multi-disciplinary teams in the delivery of web-enabled projects delivered through screens or connected devices—often by digital agencies, studios, or internal web teams.

Digital Project Manager

Digital project manager is a job title often used interchangeably with web project managers, web producers, and digital producers. A digital project manager role is to bring teams together to make things happen—it’s all about leading, empowering, facilitating, and communicating.

Dummy Activity

A schedule activity of zero duration used to show a logical relationship in the arrow diagramming method. Dummy activities are used when logical relationships cannot be completely or correctly described with schedule activity arrows. Dummy activities are generally shown graphically as a dashed line headed by an arrow.

Back to the top

Sign up for our emails and be the first to see helpful how-tos, insider tips and tricks, and a collection of templates and tools.

Sign up for our emails and be the first to see helpful how-tos, insider tips and tricks, and a collection of templates and tools.

  • Hidden
  • By submitting this form, you agree to receive our newsletter and occasional emails related to The Digital Project Manager. For more details, please review our Privacy Policy. We're protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

E

Earned Value Management (EVM)

A methodology for integrating scope, schedule, and resources, and for objectively measuring project performance and progress. The project plan, actual work, and work completed value are monitored in order to see if a project is on track. Earned value shows how much of the budget and time should have been spent for work done.

Enterprise Project Management

Enterprise project management involves managing both multiple projects and complex projects within your organization. It also often requires coordination among different departments and project teams.

Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO)

The EPMO operates directly beneath C-suite executives and the board of directors. It's composed of an executive leadership team that makes major decisions on which projects the enterprise should take on and who should oversee each one.

Epic

A large user story that is too big to fit into a single sprint or release cycle and needs to be broken down into smaller stories before it can be completed.

Estimate At Completion (EAC)

Estimate at completion is a hypothesis of what the total cost of the project will be before the project begins which changes as the project progresses, as the planning horizon becomes closer..

Estimating

Estimating uses a number of tools and techniques to produce an approximation of a project timescale and cost. The estimate has a single total value and may have identifiable component values.

Back to the top

F

Fast Tracking 

A technique of compressing the project schedule that changes network logic to overlap phases which would normally be done sequentially or to perform schedule activities in parallel.

Finish-to-Finish (FF) Tasks

Finish-to-finish tasks are used in project planning to define that successor tasks cannot finish until the predecessor task finishes. 

Finish-to-Start (FS) Tasks

Finish-to-start tasks are successors and cannot begin until the predecessor task is completed.

Float

The time a task can be delayed without delaying the project. Tasks on the critical path have no float.

Forward Pass

The calculation of the early start and early finish dates for the uncompleted portions of all network activities. See also schedule network analysis and backward pass.

Free Float

The amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately following schedule activities.

Functional Requirements

Functional requirements relate to a product’s functionality: capabilities, usability, features, and operations as they relate to the purpose of the product. 

Back to the top

G

Gantt Chart

A popular project management project planning tool that can be used to illustrate a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with tasks, task duration, resources, dependencies ,and interdependencies between tasks, as well as other project data. It can be used to track progress.

Gold Plating

The addition of unnecessary features or refinements, beyond the agreed scope, into a product or service in an attempt to improve customer satisfaction.

Back to the top

H

Human Resource Planning 

The process of identifying and documenting project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships, as well as creating the resource management plan.

Hybrid Project Management Methodology

A hybrid project management methodology is a combination or two or more other methodologies or approaches to delivering projects. It involves taking elements of a few project methodologies (often waterfall or one of the agile methodologies) and making it your own to fit the needs of your project. 

Back to the top

I

Indirect costs
Indirect costs are those attributed to the cost of doing business. Examples include utilities, office space, and other overhead costs.

Influencer

Persons or groups that are not directly related to the acquisition or use of the project’s product, but, due to their position in the client organization, can influence, positively or negatively, the course of the project.

Initiation

The first phase of the project life cycle, where the project is kicked off both with your team and with any clients and stakeholders. During the initiation phase, the project manager gathers information to set and define the project’s scope, timeline, and cost, as well as identify the stakeholders, the team, goals and objectives, and deliverables.

Input 

Any item, whether internal or external to the project that is required by a process before that process proceeds. May be an output from a predecessor process.

Back to the top

K

Kanban

Kanban is a popular methodology under the agile umbrella that uses cards, boards, and visual signals to help teams organize their processes and track progress. At Kanban’s core is the Kanban board, a visualization of the team’s progress. It shows what specific tasks are getting done or need to be done in different columns, called story cards.

Kickoff Meeting

The kickoff meeting is the first meeting between the project customer and the project team.

Knowledge Area Process

An identifiable project management process within a knowledge area

Back to the top

L

Line of Business

A specific area or category of operations within a company. For example, a large corporation might have multiple lines of business, such as manufacturing, marketing, and sales. In financial terms, different lines of business may contribute to the company's revenue and profit in unique ways.

Logic Network

A diagram showing the sequence of activities in a project across time. It shows which activity logically precedes or follows another activity. It can be used to identify the milestones and critical path of a project.

Logical Relationship 

A dependency between two project schedule activities, or between a project schedule activity and a schedule milestone. The four possible types of logical relationships are: Finish-to-Start, Finish-to-Finish, Start-to- Start, and Start-to-Finish.

Back to the top

M

Matrix Organization

Any organizational structure in which the project manager shares responsibility with the functional managers for assigning priorities and for directing the work of persons assigned to the project.

Milestone

A milestone is a key event during the life of a project, usually completing project deliverables or other noteworthy achievements that are often used to track whether or not a project is on schedule, or not.

Monte Carlo Simulation

A Monte Carlo simulation is a technique used to estimate the likely range of outcomes from a complex process by simulating the process under randomly selected conditions a large number of times.

Back to the top

N

Node

One of the defining points of a schedule network; a junction point joined to some or all of the other dependency lines.

Non-functional Requirements

Non-functional requirements encompass anything not related to a product’s functionality, such as performance, stability, security, and technical specifications.

NPV

Net Present Value (NPV) is an estimate that helps organizations determine the financial benefits of long-term projects. NPV compares the value of a dollar today to the value of that same dollar in the future, taking inflation and returns into account.

Back to the top

O

Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS)

A hierarchically organized depiction of the project organization arranged so as to relate the work packages to the performing organizational units.

Organizational Process Assets

Any or all process related assets, from any or all of the organizations involved in the project that are or can be used to influence the project’s success. These process assets include formal and informal plans, policies, procedures, and guidelines. The process assets also include the organizations’ knowledge bases such as lessons learned and historical information.

Back to the top

P

P3M3

Also known as the Portfolio, Program and Project Management Maturity Model, P3M3 is a reference guide for structured best practice. It breaks down the broad disciplines of portfolio, program, and project management into a hierarchy of Key Process Areas (KPAs)

Path Convergence

This refers to the merging of parallel schedule network paths into the same node in a project schedule network diagram. Path convergence is characterized by a schedule activity with more than one predecessor activity.

Path Divergence 

Characterized by a schedule activity with more than one successor activity, path divergence refers to generating parallel schedule network paths from the same node in a project schedule network diagram.

PERT Chart

PERT is an acronym for Program Evaluation Review Technique and refers to a tool used to schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks within a project. It is also known as a precedence diagram, a network chart, and logic diagram.

PERT Estimate

PERT estimating is an accurate estimating technique often used for time and cost estimates. PERT uses a weighted average to predict how long a task may take. PERT uses the formula of “pessimistic plus the optimistic, plus four times the most likely, divided by six.” It’s divided by six because of one count for pessimistic, one count for optimistic, and four count for most likely. 

PEST Analysis

This is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the impact that political, economic, social, and technological factors might have on a project. It involves an organization considering the external environment before starting a project.

PMBOK

PMBOK stands for Project Management Body of Knowledge and it refers to the Project Management Institute’s collection of processes and knowledge areas accepted as best practice within the project management discipline. The PMBOK is currently in its 7th edition.

Portfolio

A collection of projects or programs and other work that are grouped together to facilitate effective management in order to meet strategic business objectives. The projects or programs of the portfolio may not necessarily be interdependent or directly related.

Postmortem

Postmortem is also referred to as post-project review or audit. The purpose of this review is to analyze the completed project; what went well, what didn’t, and what you’d do differently next time. It should also look objectively at the effectiveness of the project team, the success of the project, the value of the deliverables, and the overall approval from the clients.

PRINCE2

PRINCE2 is an approach to project management that provides a full-stack methodology for managing projects within a clearly defined framework. PRINCE2 describes procedures to coordinate people and activities in a project, how to design and supervise the project, and what to do if the project has to be adjusted if it doesn’t develop as planned.

Probability and Impact Matrix

A common way to determine whether a risk is considered low, moderate, or high by combining the two dimensions of a risk: its probability of occurrence, and its impact on objectives if it occurs.

Process

Process is a term project managers use to describe the project life cycle, or how projects get done; it’s a set of interrelated actions and activities performed to achieve a specified set of products, results, or services.

Process Groups

The five process groups—initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing—make up the project life cycle and project phases. These five process groups have sets of actions that move the project forward toward completion.

Program Management

Program management is the practice of managing a "program" or number of multiple, related projects that work together to create impact for a strategic initiative.

Project

A project is a temporary endeavor that has a set timeline, specific goals and objectives, and results in a unique product or service. Projects are not regular ongoing processes or operations, administrative functions, or repetitive activities.

Project Change Request Form

Formalizes requests from anyone to the project manager. It requires the requestor not only to describe the change, but also to supply a reason why this change is appropriate and needed. Once the requestor has completed the form, the project manager can determine whether the change is indeed necessary, should be rejected, or should be delayed until the completion of the current project.

Project Charter

A project charter is a formal document that outlines the shared understanding of a project’s scope, development, and project objectives, while also defining the roles and responsibilities of each party involved.

Project Controls

Project controls are the actions project managers take and the documentation used to keep projects on track. They can help anticipate problems and opportunities. In practice, project controls focus on monitoring relevant project KPIs such as cost and schedule, which ultimately tie in with scope and delivery.

Project Initiation Document (PID)

A project initiation document defines the project scope, management, and overall success criteria that the team can go back to during the project. It contains the basic information of the project such as context, scope, team, and collaboration. It is equally important as an internal guide and for external stakeholders. Project initiation document is often used interchangeably with project charter.

Project Kickoff

The project kickoff is a meeting or an event to introduce the project, the management backing the project, the project manager, and the team members. It should be casual but organized and used as a mechanism to assign ownership of the project to the team.

Project Life Cycle

The project life cycle is composed of five process groups: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.

Project Management

The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines project management as the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations.

Project Management Knowledge Area 

An identified area of project management defined by its knowledge requirements and described in terms of its component processes, practices, inputs, outputs, tools, and techniques.

Project Management Methodology

Project management methodologies are systems of rules and procedures that apply different principles, themes, frameworks, and standards to structure the way we deliver projects.

Project Management Office (PMO)

An organizational body or entity that oversees and mentors groups of projects. The responsibilities of a PMO could include setting up policies and standards for projects, reviewing and consolidating project reports for external stakeholders, and being responsible for the direct management of a project.

Project Management Professional (PMP)

A Project Management Professional or PMP is a globally recognized certification in project management. It is managed by the Project Management Institute and is based on the PMP Examination Specification published by PMI in 2005.

Project Management Software

Project management software is type of software or computer application that provides information about the progress of a project or task. Project management software is designed for organizations and project teams that need transparency and oversight of their projects.

Project Manager

The person who has the overall responsibility for the successful planning, execution and closure of a project. Project managers work in the construction industry, architecture, information technology and many different occupations that produce a product or service.

Project Objective

A project objective is a statement that describes the tangible and measurable “what” of your project. It must be achievable, realistic, and able to be completed within the time allowed.

Project Phase

A collection of logically related project activities (usually sequential, but can also overlap) which result in the completion of a major deliverable. A project phase is a component of a project life cycle.

Project Plan

A project plan outlines the scope, objectives, and schedules of a specific project. It provides a roadmap for all project stakeholders involved, and includes clear direction and expectations. 

Project Portfolio Management (PPM)

Project Portfolio Management organizes a series of projects into a single portfolio of reports that capture project objectives and other critical factors

Project Proposal

A project proposal is a written document that is submitted to an internal sponsor, client, or prospective client that builds a case to have the team deliver a scope of work.

Project Roadmap

A project roadmap is a summary of the context, impetus, and logic of your project, and focuses on the “why” more than the “how” or the “what”.

Project Schedule

A project schedule is a sequenced list of activities and deliverables required to complete a project successfully. A detailed schedule includes the duration of project activities, key deadlines or milestones, and the person responsible for each task.

Back to the top

Q

Quality 

The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils the pre-defined requirements.

Quality Management Plan 

The quality management plan is a plan that describes how the project management team will implement the organization’s quality policy.

Back to the top

R

RACI Chart

A RACI chart is a matrix of the key activities in a project set against all the people or roles. At each intersection of activity and role it is possible to assign somebody responsible, accountable, consulted, or informed for that activity or decision.

RAID Log

RAID is an acronym for risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies, and a raid log is a project management tool, often in the form of a spreadsheet, that is used to track them.

Resource Availability

The number of resources needed to complete a project and how much time each resource has to dedicate to project work.

Resource Calendar 

A calendar of working days and nonworking days that determines those dates on which each specific resource is idle or can be active. Typically defines resource specific holidays and resource availability periods.

Resource Constraint

Resource constraint describes a situation where a project may need additional resources but doesn’t have access to the resources—for example, a particular type of equipment, a particular project team member, or a facility such as a training room.

Resource Leveling

Resource leveling is the process of matching availability to resource allocation. When availability does not match resource demand, a project manager reschedules the task until resource supply matches demand.

Resource Loading

A resource loaded schedule considers the time it takes to complete project tasks based on resource availability, or the amount of work your project team is programmed to take on.

Resource Management

Project resource management involves forecasting, assembling, and managing the team members, equipment, and other materials needed to execute a project.

Resource Management Plan

A project resource management plan outlines a strategy for how resources will be allocated, scheduled, and used during a project. 

Resource Planning

Resource planning is the process of determining how a business will allocate resources in a project, including assigning tasks to individuals based on their skills and availability. 

Resources

Everything needed to complete a project, but in particular people and money.

Retrospective

A meeting where the Scrum team or project team reflects on how they worked together, what can improved in the future, and get feedback from each other. The retrospective is one of the Scrum ceremonies, and team members might attend sprint retrospectives or project retrospectives, depending on the process being followed.

Risk

Risks are potential external events that could have negative impact on a project if they occur. Risk also refers to the combined likelihood the event will occur and the impact on the project if the event does occur.

Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS)

A hierarchically organized depiction of the identified project risks arranged by risk category and subcategory that identifies the various areas and causes of potential risks. The risk breakdown structure is often tailored to specific project types

Risk Register

A risk register is a document that defines risk to a project; its characteristics, its likelihood, signs that the risk may be occurring, a mitigation plan, and the risk’s eventual outcome in the project.

Back to the top

S

Scaled Agile (SAFe) Methodology

According to Scaled Agile, “The Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe) is a system for implementing Agile, Lean, and DevOps practices at scale”. As it implies, it is a framework that can be used to help organizations adapt their agile processes and workflows as an organization grows.

Scope

The overall definition of what the project should achieve and a specific description of what the result should be. A major ingredient of scope is the quality of the final product.

Scope Creep

Scope creep is the uncontrolled growth of the project scope resulting from constant changes to requirements without consideration to the impact on resources or timescale

Scrum

Scrum is an agile methodology that uses iterative and incremental practices to manage complex software and product development.

Scrum Ceremonies (a.k.a. Scrum events or rituals)

Scrum ceremonies are elements of the Scrum methodology. There are five specifically-defined Scrum events: the sprint, sprint planning, daily Scrum, sprint review, and sprint retrospective.

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a management philosophy developed by Motorola that emphasizes quality, setting extremely high objectives, and by collecting data and analyzing the results, finding ways to reduce defects in products and services.

Sponsor

The person who has authority over the project, provides funding, approves scope changes, provides high-level direction, and champions the project within an organization.

Sprint

An iterative unit of time, typically a one, two, or four week period during which a set amount of work is completed and made ready for review by the development team. This gives the project team the opportunity to reflect, make adjustments and plan based on events and conditions. The term and concept comes from agile project management techniques in the software industry.

Sprint Planning

The process of prioritizing and organizing the backlog to decide which deliverables, items, and tasks will be included in an upcoming sprint. Read more about sprint planning meetings here. During this meeting tasks are identified and estimated (sometimes using an estimation method called planning poker) based on the amount of resources available and the scope defined in previous meetings. The team then commits to a section of the product backlog as the sprint backlog.

Sprint Review

The sprint review occurs at the end of each sprint, and involves checking in on whether the sprint goal has been achieved. Team members might demo the product or deliverable at the sprint review.

Stakeholder

A stakeholder is anyone, internal or external to an organization, that has an interest in a project or will be affected by its deliverables.

Statement of Work (SoW)

The statement of work defines the approach and work a project must produce. The SoW is a key governance tool whether it is being used to direct work for a vendor or contractor, or used to direct the work internally, the SoW must contain a description of all the work that is expected to be delivered. 

Status Reports
Status reports provide current information on the project cost, budget, scope, and other relevant information including what has been completed and next steps. It often will also include a risk register and project timeline.

SWOT Analysis

A strategic planning tool used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to a project. It involves specifying the objective of the project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective.

Back to the top

T

Theory of Constraints (ToC)

A management philosophy that views any manageable system as being limited in achieving more of its goals by a very small number of constraints.

Three-Point Estimating

Three point estimating is an estimating technique where you ask people to give you a best-case, worst-case, and most likely case, to create an accurate estimate range and price point usually using the average of the three cases given.

Time and Material (T&M) Billing Method

Time and materials billing is an alternative billing method to fixed price, or margin based pricing where time and materials are accrued and then billed as utilized. Often, time and materials contracts are capped with a Not-to-Exceed clause (NTE) to contain costs.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Total Cost of Ownership is an estimate of all direct and indirect costs associated with an asset or acquisition over its entire life.

Total Float

The total amount of time that a schedule activity may be delayed from its early start date without delaying the project finish date, or violating a schedule constraint. Calculated using the critical path method technique and determining the difference between the early finish dates and late finish dates.

Total Slack

Total slack is described as the total time a particular activity with a project can be delayed without impacting the overall project timeline.

Triple Constraint

Also known as the “iron triangle” or the “project management triangle”, the triple constraints of project management refer to the relationships between a project’s scope, time, and cost.

Back to the top

U

Use Case

The specification of software tests that are conducted from the perspective of a hypothetical end user. Use cases focus on operating the software as an end user would during their day-to-day activities.

User Story

A tool used in agile development to capture a description of a software feature from a user's perspective.

Back to the top

V

Variance

Variance is a quantifiable deviation, departure, or divergence away from the expected value or known baseline.

Variance At Completion (VAC)

Variance at completion is the difference between the budget at completion (BAC) and the estimate at completion (EAC); its formula is VAC = BAC - EAC.

A general business term that refers to a specific niche industry or market. For example, verticals with the tech sector might include software development, hardware manufacturing, and IT services.

Velocity

The average number of units or points achieved by a team per iteration, measured over multiple iterations to create a sort of baseline.

Vertical Slice

Vertical slice refers to a type of milestone, benchmark, or deadline, with emphasis on demonstrating progress across all components of a project.

Virtual Team

A virtual team is the opposite of a co-located team. It’s where a team is geographically dispersed.

Back to the top

W

War Room

A war room is often used on agile projects where the project manager and project team collaborate in close proximity to complete a project.

Waterfall Model

Waterfall is a traditional project management methodology that follows a sequential development process, in which development flows steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of initiation, analysis, design, build, test, and maintenance. To follow the waterfall model, you move from one phase to the next sequentially, with no overlapping or iterative steps.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The work breakdown structure is a hierarchical decomposition of the deliverables needed to complete a project. It breaks the deliverables down into manageable work packages that can be scheduled, costed, and have resources assigned to them.

Workaround

A workaround is an alternative plan, an unplanned response when there is no other contingency plan in place.

Workflow

A workflow is a series of activities that are necessary to complete a task.

Workflow Automation

Workflow automation is the process of identifying what elements of your workflows can be automated or made to run without human intervention

Workflow Diagram

A workflow diagram is a graphical representation of the steps that are necessary to complete a project.

Back to the top

By Ben Aston

I’m Ben Aston, a digital project manager and founder of thedpm.com. I've been in the industry for more than 20 years working in the UK at London’s top digital agencies including Dare, Wunderman, Lowe and DDB. I’ve delivered everything from film to CMS', games to advertising and eCRM to eCommerce sites. I’ve been fortunate enough to work across a wide range of great clients; automotive brands including Land Rover, Volkswagen and Honda; Utility brands including BT, British Gas and Exxon, FMCG brands such as Unilever, and consumer electronics brands including Sony. I'm a Certified Scrum Master, PRINCE2 Practitioner and productivity nut!