––

Be on the Inside:
Decode the Jargon of
Project Management
Third Edition
with Added Agile Terminology!

By Dr Mike Clayton
Founder of OnlinePMCourses

OnlinePMCourses: Project Management Book 1

Be on the Inside: Decode the Jargon of Project Management
Third Edition, with Added Agile Terminology!

OnlinePMCourses.com

First published in 2016

Second edition, 2017
Third edition, 2022

© Dr Mike Clayton, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022

The right of Mike Clayton to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
Contents

SUMMARY OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT TERMINOLOGY

What is a Project?

Project Stages

The Definition Stage

What a Project Produces

Quality

Project Definition Document

Making the Case

Governance

Stakeholders

The Book of the Plan

Planning your Project

Risk Happens!

The Delivery Stage

Closing your Project

Glossary of Project Management Terms

GLOSSARY OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT TERMS

LEARN MORE
Summary of Project Management Terminology

Anyone who has spent time in a project management environment will know
that there is a lot of project terminology and jargon.
Knowing this jargon will not make you a better project manager, but it does
provide a quicker way to communicate with other project managers who know
it. So, here is a summary of all the essential project lingo that you will need, to
get by.

What is a Project?
We will start, inevitably, with project. A project is a coordinated set of tasks,
which together create a defined new product, process, or service, within a
constrained time and resource budget. A project manager is that circus
performer who can keep juggling relationships with the many people involved
in the project, whilst keeping many tasks spinning like plates. A good project
manager must be able to get things done, organize people and processes and
succeed at influencing, motivating, and inspiring their teams.

Project Stages
Projects are divided into stages, or phases to help us manage them and, in
this book, we worked with four basic stages: Definition, Planning, Delivery and
Closure. Between these are stage boundaries, also known as stage gates,
gates, or gateways. These are review points where we make go or no-go
decisions based on how the project is performing and the value we will get
from our further investment.

The Definition Stage

The purpose of the definition stage is to define what the project is and is not.
To do this we must establish a goal or aim for the project and a set of
objectives. These set out how you will measure your success in achieving
your goal and are typically expressed in terms of time, cost, and quality,
forming the time-cost-quality triangle, also known as the triangle of balance,
triple constraint or, in the US, the iron triangle. To protect our ability to deliver
to schedule, budget, and standards, we often include some contingency in
each, so that if the unexpected occurs, we have some room for maneuver.
The “fourth corner” of the time-cost-quality triangle is scope. This sets out
how much work we need to do and how much our project will produce. An
inevitable pressure, which project managers work hard to counter, is for
people to add work to our project. This process is known as scope creep.
What a Project Produces
The things our project produces are called deliverables or products. They
are sometimes also called outputs and are the physical or intellectual things
the project produces. They can be contrasted with outcomes, which are the
real-world changes – beneficial, we hope – that result from the integration of
our deliverables into how we do things. That task is sometimes the role of a
distinct integration manager.
We aim to define our deliverables as precisely as we can, with detailed
specifications. These derive from a good understanding of the
requirements; both quality and functionally driven. To help us priorities these,
we use MoSCoW analysis, setting out the musts, shoulds, coulds and won’ts
from among people’s quality and functional requests.

Quality
Quality is so important to projects that we have three essential processes to
draw from: quality design is getting the right quality into the specifications
and design of the deliverables, quality assurance is the way we carry out
delivery to make sure we produce them to the designed standards, and
quality control is the process of checking deliverables meet the required
standards before we release them to our client.

Project Definition Document

All of this goes into a project definition document also known as a project
charter, project terms of reference, outline project initiation document (outline
PID), or project brief. The acronym DCARI reminds us to also include the
dependencies between our project and other activities, the external
constraints upon our project, the assumptions we have had to make and
will need to test, the risks or threats to our project, and any issues that we
need to resolve.

Making the Case

We need to demonstrate that, if we do our project, it will offer good value for
money and that the benefits will outweigh the costs. The tool for this is an
investment appraisal, which compares the two and shows as objectively as
possible how they compare. This often gets wrapped into a larger document
that is a piece of advocacy for the project and is called a business case. It is
good practice for a business case to compare a few different project options,
to give decision makers a real choice. One option should be the do-nothing
option. Another important consideration is benefits realization – how you
will make sure that the project will achieve the benefits promised in the
business case.
Governance
Projects need to be accountable, and this is managed through governance
processes. The two chief roles of governance are: oversight to ensure the
project is performing as it should, and decision-making. The most prominent
person in this role is the project sponsor who acts as a decision-maker,
overseer, counselor to the project manager and conspicuous advocate for the
project. They are supported by a project board or steering group that
consists of the right mix of people to help with evaluating the project and
making decisions. Steering groups are sometimes advisory and feed their
comments into the board.

Stakeholders
Perhaps the most important people to a project manager are the
stakeholders; those people, groups or organizations who have an interest in
the project. A good project manager will actively manage their stakeholders,
identifying who they are, understanding them, planning a series of messages
and how to deliver them, and then following up assiduously.

The Book of the Plan

At the outset of planning a project, we start to build one comprehensive
document that encompasses all our planning. This is called the book of the
plan, the project initiation document (PID), the project terms of reference
(TOR), a master plan, or sometimes a project bible.

Planning your Project

There are many planning tools but perhaps the simplest is the milestone a
fixed point in the project schedule when something has happened – usually
the completion of a task or the creation of a deliverable. Type 1 milestones
are the big points in the project we use to start planning and they mark
significant points along the way. Type 2 milestones are smaller
achievements that we use to track progress and so to give us an indicator of
how well we are keeping to schedule.
A whole family of valuable tools starts with a systematic documentation of all
the work that needs to be done in a work breakdown structure (WBS). From
this, we can allocate people to tasks, to create an organizational breakdown
structure (OBS) and we can put cost estimates against each activity to build
up a project budget in the form of a cost breakdown structure (CBS). The
deliverables can be documented in hierarchical format in a similar way, to
create a product breakdown structure (PBS).
If we take the activities from our WBS and arrange them into a logical
sequence, we create a network chart that allows us to plan out the sequence
of tasks. Specific methodologies distinguish a generic network chart from its
two cousins, which both include durations of the activities: a PERT chart
(PERT stands for program evaluation and review technique) and a critical
path analysis. The critical path is the longest route through a network chart
and is critical in the sense that a delay to any of the activities on this path will
delay completion of the project.
A related chart is more widely used Gantt chart. This places the focus on
duration and time, rather than on logic and sequence. It represents each
activity by a bar whose length represents the duration of the activity and its
placing shows when it is scheduled to start. When one activity must follow
another, this is known as a dependency and if there needs to be a gap
between one activity finishing and the next starting, the gap is called a lag. If
an activity can finish late without affecting the rest of the scheduling, this is
called float or sometimes, more colloquially, slack.
Powerful tools for planning what people we need and how we will use them
are responsibility charts and two common forms are the RACI chart –
where RACI stands for four common roles of: responsible, authority,
consultation and informed – and the responsibility grid, which is more
formally known as the linear responsibility chart (LRC). We can allocate
specific chunks of work in a formal manner, using a document called a work
package definition (WPD).

Risk Happens!
Risk management is a vital aspect of project management that recognizes
the importance of anticipating and dealing proactively with the things that
could go wrong. A risk is an uncertain event that could affect outcomes. The
level of uncertainty is measured by the likelihood or probability of the risk and
the effect on outcomes is measured by its impact or sometimes severity. The
latter term, however, only implies the scale of the impact, whilst the term
impact captures both the severity and nature of the effect. We tend to focus
on threats – risks with a negative impact.
The process of risk management has four steps: identify what could go
wrong, analyze how serious it is, plan what we can do about it, and act.
Where we cannot sufficiently reduce a serious threat, we need to plan what
we would do if it came about; this is a contingency plan. Risks are recorded,
along with our analysis, plans and a record of our actions, on a risk register
or risk log.

The Delivery Stage

The beating heart of the delivery stage is the monitor and control cycle.
We observe what is happening on our project, compare it with our plans, and
make interventions and corrections to bring everything back on schedule or
budget. To help us stick to our plan or get back to it, we use project controls.
There is a list, but the most important are often risk management, reporting
and change control.
The two types of report we produce in the delivery stage are: progress
reports also known as highlight reports, summary reports or project updates,
and exception reports. Progress reports set out a broad spread of essential
information on project status and tend to be prepared on a regular cycle at
predictable times. Status is often summarized with a traffic light report, or
RAG status; allocating red, amber, or green status to project activities
depending upon their performance – from good performance, according to
plan (green) to poor performance that deviates substantially (red). Exception
reports are issued when something exceptional happens, and they document
the incident and how it is to be handled.
Change control is the process of managing requests for change to make
sure decisions are made accountably. The requests are documented on a
change request form, and all requests are logged and tracked on a change
log.

Closing your Project

The delivery stage ends with the final handover of the last of the deliverables
to their new owner. This also marks the start of the closure stage. Handover
of the deliverables is often accompanied by an operational use memo that
sets out the information the owner needs to know. The project team can then
carry out reviews, finish off any outstanding admin tasks and then celebrate
the completion of the project. Final completion can be marked and formalized
with a project closure memo. Then all that’s left is to switch off the lights and
go home.

Glossary of Project Management Terms

In the next section is a glossary of 337 project and project management
terms.

• The second edition added 100 more terms to its predecessor.

• This is the third edition, and it has added another 95 terms.
Glossary of Project Management Terms

A
Acceptance When the project’s deliverables are formally signed off
and accepted into beneficial use by the project’s
customers. Sometimes referred to as customer
acceptance or user acceptance.

Acceptance The essential conditions that will determine whether a

Criteria product/deliverable will be accepted by the client or
operational owner.

Accountable Accountability is a stronger concept than responsibility,

in that it implies the possibility of being called to account
by someone higher in authority. It therefore carries the
possibility of paying a price for mistakes, misdemeanors,
or negligence.

Activity A clearly defined thing cluster of tasks that needs to be

done. Activity and Task are often used interchangeably.

Adaptive Project In contrast to Predictive Project Manager, Adaptive

Management Project Management adopts a philosophy of adapting
quickly to changes in situation and priority. It is more
commonly known as Agile Project Management.

Agile Ability to respond flexibly to adapt to changing

circumstances and priorities. See Agile Project
Management.

Agile Estimating A simplified estimating process that gives broad estimate

for the level of work needed to achieve an outcome –
usually articulated as a Story or an Epic. Agile estimating
methods include Planning Poker and T-shirt Sizing.

Agile Manifesto A statement of intent that sets out priorities for software
development projects, as seen by a group of 22 software
engineers. See the manifesto at https://agilemanifesto.org
Agile Project An approach to project management that focuses on
Management iterations of small, incremental steps in the development
of products/deliverables. Agile Project Management
emphasizes flexibility, continuous improvement, and team
input. Agile approaches are principally used in IT projects,
although they are becoming more common in business
project. There are several specific Agile methodologies,
of which the most widely used are Scrum, XP (eXtreme
Programming), Kanban, and Scrumban.

Alpha Test A stage in software testing in which users look for flaws
and report them confidentially to the development team.
Followed by Beta Testing.

APM The Association for Project Management. A UK-based

professional body for project managers. It promotes
project management professionalism, produces its own
Book of Knowledge, has its own certifications, and
facilitates professional development and networking.

APMBoK The Association for Project Management’s Body of

Knowledge. The seventh edition was published in 2019.

Artifact A tool or deliverable that supports the delivery or

governance processes of a project. An artifact can be
either generic, or specific to a particular methodology.

As-is state Current operating structure and performance of the parts

of the business that will be impacted by a project or
program. Compare with To-be state.

Assumption Something you believe to be true, without evidence.

There is no harm in making assumptions (it is often
necessary). What you must do, is to make your
assumptions explicit and test any upon which significant
outcomes depend.

Assurance A review process that checks the extent to which the

Project Management team is following appropriate project
processes and governance procedures. It is, itself, a part
of project governance.

B
Backlog The set of requirements, or stories, that a project can
select from for subsequent implementation. Used most
often in Agile Project Management.
Baseline Plan A formally committed plan that has been signed off. It is
used as the basis for monitoring progress and the
success of your project.

BAU See Business as Usual.

Benefits The value that your project will produce and therefore the
reason why it has been commissioned. Benefits are
usually documented in the business case.

Benefits The process of managing the delivery of benefits within

Management your project. Components include identifying, defining,
planning for delivery of, monitoring, and realizing your
project benefits.

Benefits How you will make sure that the project will achieve the
Realization benefits promised in the business case.

Beta Test A software user testing stage that is the final testing
phase before user acceptance.

Blueprint See Business Blueprint.

Book of the Plan At the outset of planning a project, we start to build one
comprehensive document that encompasses all our
planning. This is called the book of the plan, the project
initiation document (PID), the project terms of
reference (TOR), a master plan, or sometimes a project
bible.

BOSCARD An acronym standing for primary elements of a Project

Definition: background, objectives, scope,
constraints, assumptions, risks, dependencies.

Bottom-up When you develop your plans or estimates, starting with

the smallest components, and then aggregating them
successively, this is bottom-up planning or estimating.

Budget A financial statement of the estimated costs for

completing all or a part of the project.
By analogy it is also possible to create resource and time
budgets.

Burndown Chart A chart representation of the tasks to be done and the

time remaining. Shows the rate at which the project team
is delivering requirements or stories. Used in Agile
Project Management.

Business as The day-to-day activity of your organization – compare

Usual (BAU) with the out-of-the-ordinary activity that is a project.
Business A model of the organization and how it operates. Includes
Blueprint processes and practices, and serves as a guide (or
blueprint) for the development of enabling technologies,
by setting out the capabilities the organization needs.

Business Case An analysis of the benefits and costs of making a change

to the way things are done. It is good practice for a
business case to compare several different project
options, to give decision makers a real choice. One option
should be the do-nothing option. See also: Investment
Appraisal.

Business A plan to allow an organization to continue to operate,

Continuity Plan following a major incident – often referred to as a crisis.

C
Cadence The cycle time for iterations, or sprints, in an agile
project. Typically, 1 to 4 weeks.

Capability A service, process, function, policy, or operational

practice that allows an organization to exploit its
opportunities.

Capability-based Planning approach that starts from a statement of the

Planning capabilities that an organization needs, to exploit its
opportunities and serve its stakeholders. It starts by
asking ‘what do we need to be able to do?’

CAPEX Short-form of Capital Expenditure – the alternative to

revenue expenditure.

CAPM The Certified Associate in Project Management is the

PMI’s entry-level Project Management certification.

Ceremonies Regular meetings or events, like a daily morning stand-

up meeting or a Retrospective, that advance the project.
The term is most-often used in Agile Project
Management.

Change The person (or, more often, group) that is charged with
Authority evaluating and making decisions on requests for
change.
Change Control Change control is the process of managing requests for
change to make sure decisions are made accountably.
The requests are documented on a change request
form, and all requests are logged and tracked on a
change log. It ensures that where changes are
authorized, appropriate additional resources are
allocated.

Change Log Document for recording all requests for change, their
approval status and progress.

Change 1. Sometimes used interchangeably with Change

Management Control.
2. The more common meaning is the management of the
human, cultural, operational, or systemic changes that
arise as a result of implementing a project.

Change Request See Request for Change.

Charter Used in several ways. The most common are:

1. A founding document that authorizes the start of formal
work (and therefore incurring costs) for a project.
2. A document that sets out the working relationships and
agreed behaviours within a project team.
See also Project Definition Document, for which the
term is sometimes used interchangeably.

Checkpoint A team-led review of project progress, usually an informal

meeting. Usually held pre-set times in the project
schedule. Often covers a work stream or work
package. Compare with Gateway Review.

Checkpoint A progress report that collates the information gathered at

Report a checkpoint meeting. Provides the Project Manager
with reporting data.

Closure The last stage of a project, where the project team carries
out reviews, finishes off any outstanding admin tasks, and
then celebrates the completion of the project. Completion
can be marked and formalized with a project closure
memo.

Communication A plan of how you propose to engage with your project’s

Plan stakeholders.

Component Test In software testing, the first stage is to test a new

component in isolation. Also called a Unit Test.
Configuration The technical description of a system and how its
component parts inter-connect. Without this, you cannot
build, test, install, accept, operate, maintain, or support
the system.

Configuration Ensuring that the integrity of the configuration of a

Control system, as it goes through changes during your project.

Configuration Defining, controlling, releasing, changing, documenting,

Management and reporting the configuration items in a system.

Constraints Fixed factors that place limitations on what you can do.

Contingency An amount of time, budget or functionality incorporated in

the plan beyond the project team’s best estimate of what
is needed, to allow for the adverse impact of risks.

Contingency A plan developed to mitigate the outcome of a risk, once

Plan the risk has materialized.

Continuity Plan See Business Continuity Plan.

Controls Controls set out how you propose to stick to your plan in
the face of the challenges of the real world, and what you
will do when reality forces your project to deviate from
plan.

Cost Benefit An assessment of whether to undertake a project or not.

Analysis It compares the total cost of the project with the overall
benefit to be gained. Usually documented in the
Business Case.

Cost Breakdown Hierarchical presentation of project costs, usually derived

Structure (CBS) from the Work Breakdown Structure.

Cost Overrun The amount by which the cost of a project or work

package exceeds the estimated costs, or the limit of a
contracted budget.

Crashing the Making compromises to advance work ahead of

Timelines schedule, or to catch up a significant delay.

Critical Activity An activity from your project schedule that is on the

critical path.

Critical Chain An approach to scheduling that focuses on removing

Method resource constraints. Sequences of activities are
planned, with contingency between them.
Critical Path The longest route through your network is called the
critical path and represents the duration of your project. It
is “critical” in the sense that these are the activities which
carry the risk of delay – if any of these activities were
delayed, your whole project would miss its deadline.

Critical Path The process of creating and calculating a Critical Path.

Analysis

Critical Path A project planning methodology that calculates a Critical

Method Path.

Critical Success A term that should be deprecated because it is used in

Factors two different ways.
1. Most commonly: a condition that is necessary to
have in place, if your project is to succeed. An input
to the project.
2. A condition that your project must satisfy, if it is to be
considered a success. An output of the project.
Because there is no logical reason to consider one of
these contradictory definitions to be ‘right’ and the other
to be wrong, you need to assess the meaning from the
situation. I advise you not to use the term yourself!
See also Success Criteria.

Customer The person, group, or organization for whom the project

is delivering its products.

Cynefin A framework for characterizing the nature of a problem

and therefore selecting the best approach for tacking it.
Distinguishes problems that are: simple, complicated,
complex, chaotic, or undetermined.

D
Daily Scrum Within the Scrum methodology, a daily meeting. It will
typically identify what has been done, what needs to be
done, and the barriers to success.

DCARI The acronym DCARI reminds us to also include the

dependencies between our project and other activities,
the external constraints upon our project, the
assumptions we have had to make and will need to test,
the risks or threats to our project, and any issues that we
need to resolve.

DCF See Discounted Cash Flow.

Deadline Point in time by which an activity needs to be completed.
The use of the word ‘deadline’ often implies serious
consequences to delay.

Deferral Formal decision to delay a project for a limited time, with

the intention to re-start it. Compare with Suspension.

Definition The purpose of the definition stage is to define what the

project is and is not. To do this we must establish a goal
or aim for the project, a set of objectives, and the scope.
All of this goes into a project definition document.

Definition of See Done.

Done

Delivery The stage of the project where you execute the plan and
deliver the deliverables.

Deliverable The things our project produces are called deliverables

or products. They are sometimes also called outputs and
are the physical or intellectual things the project
produces. They can be contrasted with outcomes, which
are the real-world changes – beneficial, we hope – that
result from the integration of our deliverables into how
we do things.

Delphi A method for generating estimates by pooling several

Technique expert judgments.

Dependency Some tasks can get done at any time and are
independent of other activities. Others are linked to
events like the start or completion of other tasks. These
linkages are called dependencies.

Devops Short for Development/Operations. It is the interface

between new software development and operational
support to production software.

Disciplined A framework of Agile Project Management tools and

Agile (DA) processes.

Discounted A mathematical methodology for evaluating streams of

Cash Flow income and expenditure over time. It calculates a Present
Value (PV) for each cash flow item, and evaluates the
whole cash flow with both a total value (Net Present
Value – NPV) and a representative rate of return (Internal
Rate of Return – IRR).
Disaster Plan / Plan for how an organization will respond to a major
Disaster incident (disaster) – includes a business continuity
Recovery Plan plan, and immediate recovery and stabilization actions,
and public relations (PR) responses.

DOD Definition of Done. See Done.

Done Completed. The term is commonly used in Agile Project

Management, where the Definition of Done is a
statement of what completion looks like, so we know
when to stop.

DSDM Dynamic Systems Development Method is an agile

development framework.

E
Earliest Feasible The earliest date on which the activity can be scheduled
Date to start. It is based on the scheduled dates of all its
predecessors, but without any resource constraints on
the activity itself.

Earned Value A measure of cost that we use to monitor and control a

project. It allows you to quantify the progress of your
project in monetary terms. Earned value measures the
budgeted cost that is assigned to the work that is
completed. Another term for earned value is Budget Cost
of Work Performed, or BCWP.

Earned Value Analysis of project progress that accounts for both

Analysis progress against plan and expenditure against budget.
The actual money budgeted and spent is compared to the
value of the work achieved
Earned Value A project management methodology that uses earned
Management value analysis to integrate scope, budget, schedule,
delivery, expenditure, and progress. It provides robust
measures of your project’s progress in material, schedule,
and financial terms.

Effort The number of working hours deployed to complete a

task or an activity.

Epic Either a very large User Story (see Story) or a coherent

collection of several stories that belong together, and for
which it makes little sense to separate them. Used in
Agile Project Management.

Escalation Referring a project decision to someone with a higher

level of organizational authority.
Estimate An informed quantitative prediction of an element of your
project such as time, effort, resource requirement, or
cost.

Exception A deviation in cost, schedule, scope, or quality that

goes beyond the tolerance levels agreed between
Project Manager and their Project Board or Sponsor.

Exception Exception reports are issued when something exceptional

Report happens (an Exception), and they document the incident
and how it is to be handled.

Expected A calculation of the monetary value of a risk. It multiplies

Monetary Value the full cost if the risk occurs by the estimated percentage
(EMV) likelihood of the risk occurring.

F
Failure Mode Analysis of every possible failure in a system to
and Effect accumulate the potential impacts and therefore assess
Analysis the investment and steps appropriate to address risks of
failure.

Fast-tracking Working on tasks in parallel to reduce the time needed to

deliver a project.

Feasibility Study An evaluation of the work required, potential benefits,

and risks of an undertaking. It is used to establish an
outline case for whether a project or initiative should
proceed to formal definition and then planning.

Finish-to-Finish A dependency where the completion of two activities

needs to be coordinated in time – possibly with a lag or
lead between them.

Finish-to-Start A dependency where the start of one activity needs to

be coordinated in time with completion of another activity
– possibly with a lag or lead between them.

Flash Report Short, succinct progress report.

Float Difference between the estimated time required to

complete an activity, and the time scheduled in which to
do it. It is also known informally as slack.

FMEA Acronym, standing for Failure Mode and Effect Analysis

Follow-on Actions that need to be taken after the handover of a
Actions project’s deliverables / products to their customer or
operational owner. Usually, these become the
responsibility of the new owner, but the handover
documentation should set out who owns which actions.

Free Float Float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed by,
before it impacts upon the completion of another activity
or, indeed, the whole project (Total Free Float).

Functional An articulation of the functions that a user needs, in terms

Requirements of capabilities, appearance, and interactions with users.

Functional A formal document that specifies the functions that a

Specification system or component must perform, in terms of
capabilities, appearance, and interactions with users.

G
Gantt Chart A tool, popularized by Henry Gantt, that helps a project
manager to plan, communicate, and manage a project.
Shows project activities as horizontal bars, with a length
that represents the duration of the task, and places them
against a fixed timeline.

Gate or Gateway See Stage Boundary.

Gateway Review A formal review – usually conducted by objective

reviewers from outside the project – that takes place at
Stage Boundaries, or Gateways. Compare with
Checkpoint.

Goal States the over-arching purpose of the project – what you

seek to achieve. Also known as Aim.

Governance Projects need to be accountable, and this is managed

through governance processes. The two chief roles of
governance are: oversight to ensure the project is
performing as it should, and decision-making.

H
Hammock A summary ‘task’ groups a set of tasks that follow from
one another. The duration the total elapsed duration of
the activities it summarizes. Also called a roll-up or rolled-
up task.
 Highlight Report A review of progress to date that highlights actual or
potential problems. A project manager prepares this
report at intervals determined by the project board

Handover The delivery stage ends with the final handover of the
last of the deliverables to their new owner. This also
marks the start of the closure stage. Handover of the
deliverables is often accompanied by an operational use
memo that sets out the information the owner needs to
know.

Home A place that professional project managers visit from

time to time. It provides respite from work and a place to
get their laundry done.

Hybrid Project
Management

I
Impact The change of outcome resulting from a threat or
opportunity. See also severity.

Incremental A bit at a time. The ‘bit’ is an increment.

Input A term from process management that refers to an action

that contributes to a step in a process.

Integration The process of combining the products of your project

with the day-to-day activities or assets that they must
work with. This task is sometimes the role of an
integration manager.

Integration The person responsible for making the products of your

Manager project work with everything they need to work with.

Integration Test A stage in software testing where components are put

together with other related components and the cluster is
tested ad one ‘integrated’ whole.

Interdependency Dependency between one project and another.

Investment An investment appraisal compares the benefits with the

Appraisal costs of your project, and shows as objectively as
possible how they compare. This often gets wrapped into
a larger document that is a piece of advocacy for the
project and is called a business case.

IRR Internal Rate of Return - See Discounted Cash Flow

Issue A problem the project faces: an issue is technically a risk
with 100% likelihood – that is, one that is certain to
occur.

Issue Log (Or The log of all issues raised during the project.
Register)

Issue Owner See Owner.

Iteration One cycle of project work or software development. Also

known as a timebox or a sprint. Most often used in Agile
Project Management.

Iterative The approach to project work, where we return to a piece

of work to revise it, by improving functionality, enhancing
quality, or adding connections, for example. Most often
used in Agile Project Management.

ITIL The ITIL framework is the most widely used framework of

best practices for IT Service Management (ITSM). ITIL
was originally an acronym of IT Infrastructure Library.

ITSM IT Service Management – the cluster of services that

support an organization’s IT infrastructure: hardware,
software, and network.

ITT Part of the procurement process, ITT stands for Invitation

to Tender. That is, it is a document that invites contractors
and suppliers to offer a proposal to provide goods or
services.

ITTO Acronym: Inputs, Tools, Techniques and Outputs. The

basis of the PMI’s project management processes.

K
KA Abbreviation for Knowledge Area.

Kanban Project management methodology most often used for

software projects. Based on Japanese manufacturing
system. Charts progress of individual work packages
through a set sequence of stages, often matching the
project lifecycle used within the project.
Kanban Board A board (either physical or as a software implementation)
on which the work is placed and moved to illustrate status
in the Kanban method.

Key Measurable indicators, used to report progress of the

Performance project. They are chosen to reflect the critical success
Indicator factors for your project.

Knowledge Area These are areas of specialization within the PMI’s

(or KA) PMBOK Guide. They include jargon, tools, ideas,
processes, and tasks. Together, they form PMI’s
assessment of what you need to know about, to be able
to successfully manage a project.

KPI Acronym: Key Performance Indicator

KYIV Analysis In the weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it

seemed to me that I (and many others) would no longer
feel comfortable using MOSCOW Analysis. So, I recast
the framework as KYIV Analysis: Keep for sure – Yes, if
we possibly can – If we have extra budget, we will – Very
unlikely.

L
Lag A gap in time before the completion of a predecessor
activity and the start of its successor activity.

Lead A period of time by which the start of a successor

activity precedes the completion of its predecessor
activity. A negative Lag.

Lean Project Lean is a systematic method for the elimination of waste.

Management Lean project management aims to remove bottlenecks in
the project process, to speed it along and reduce waste,
by removing every activity that does not add value.

LeSS Large Scale Scrum is an Agile Project Management

methodology.

Lessons Reflection on our experience is the way we gain wisdom

Learned and professional excellence. Throughout a long project,
and at the end of every project, the Project Manager
should gather their team to reflect on what they have
learned so far. Often, the team will record these in a
Lessons Learned Log, and document them at the end of
a project, in a Lessons Learned Report.
Lifecycle The series of stages that from the start to the close of a
project.

Likelihood A measure of the probability of a risk occurring – often

based on an interpretation of how often similar risks have
occurred in comparable past circumstances. Therefore,
sometimes referred to as frequency.

Linear Chart showing responsibilities for each team member,

Responsibility against a list of tasks, or work streams.
Chart

LL Common abbreviation for Lesson Learned.

LRC Acronym for Linear Responsibility Chart.

M
Maturity Model A framework for assessing the current capabilities within
a discipline, and rating it into one of a small number
(typically 3 to 6) of levels.

Methodology A set of principles, processes, systems, and methods,

supported by tools, templates, and other artifacts.

Method A document that sets out how a piece of work will be

Statement carried out.

Milestone There are many planning tools but perhaps the simplest
is the milestone a fixed point in the project schedule when
something has happened – usually the completion of a
task or the creation of a deliverable. Type 1 milestones
are the big points in the project we use to start planning
and they mark significant points along the way. Type 2
milestones are smaller achievements that we use to track
progress and so to give us an indicator of how well we
are keeping on schedule.

Minimum Viable A first version of a product that has the minimum

Product capability or feature set to satisfy a real need for users. It
serves the twin purposes of providing a proof of concept
and a basis for feedback.

Mitigation Any action designed to reduce the likelihood or impact

of a risk.
Monitor and The beating heart of the delivery stage is the monitor and
Control Cycle control cycle. We observe what is happening on our
project, compare it with our plans, and make interventions
and corrections to bring everything back on schedule or
budget. To help us stick to our plan or get back to it, we
use project controls.

Monte Carlo A technique used in risk management and scheduling

Simulation to estimate the likely range of outcomes by simulating the
process many times, with random variability.

Morning Stand- A regular meeting which is quick and transactional, to

up establish status, next steps, and issues.

MoSCoW MoSCoW analysis analyses users’ requirements from

among people’s quality and functional requests, in terms
of the: musts, shoulds, coulds and won’ts. See also KYIV
Analysis.

MVP See Minimum Viable Product.

N
Network The process of creating a Network Chart and identifying
Analysis early and late start and finish dates for project activities.

Network Chart If we take the activities from our Work Breakdown

Structure and arrange them into a logical sequence, we
create a network chart that allows us to plan out the
logical sequence of tasks. Specific methodologies
distinguish a generic network chart from its two cousins,
which both include durations of the activities: a PERT
chart (PERT stands for program evaluation and review
technique) and a critical path analysis. The critical path
is the longest route through a network chart and is critical
in the sense that a delay to any of the activities on this
path will delay completion of the project.

NPV Net Present Value - See Discounted Cash Flow

O
Objective Objectives set out how you will measure your success in
achieving your goal and are typically expressed in terms
of time, cost, and quality, forming the time-cost-quality
triangle, also known as the triangle of balance, triple
constraint or, in the US, the iron triangle. To protect our
ability to deliver to schedule, budget, and standards, we
often include some contingency in each, so that if the
unexpected occurs, we have some room for maneuver.

Operational Use Sets out the information the owner needs to know, and is
Memo prepared to support handover.

Opportunity A favorable risk. An uncertain outcome that could benefit

your project. The opposite of threat.

Organizational Hierarchical presentation of project team members,

Breakdown according to the work they are allocated to. Derived from
Structure (OBS) the Work Breakdown Structure.

Outcome Outcomes are the real-world changes – beneficial, we

hope – that result from the integration of our deliverables
into how we do things.

Output A word that originates in process management. In project

management, it is often used loosely to mean
deliverable, or product. It is the tangible product of a
process.

Owner Person allocated responsibility or accountability for

executing a plan, or resolving a risk or issue.

P
P3 Short form to represent: Project, Program, and
Portfolio.

P3M3 UK Government's Portfolio, Programme and Project

Management Maturity Model.

Parametric An estimating approach that starts from unit estimates for

Estimating components, which are usually based on current or
historic data.

Pareto Principle The observation that, in many contexts, a small minority

of cases accounts for a significant majority of impacts.
Often referred to as ‘the 80-20 rule’.
PERT chart A specific form of Network chart; PERT stands for
program evaluation and review technique.

Phase See stage.

PID See Project Initiation Document.

Planning Poker An Agile Estimating method that uses consensus

formed from a series of rounds of simultaneous individual
estimates by team members. It is a simplification of the
Delphi Method.

Plans Plans set out how you intend to deliver your project.
They address the three project elements: tasks, time, and
resources, and describe what needs to be done, how it
will be done, when, by whom, with what assets and
materials, and how it will be paid for.

PMBOK Guide Shortform of the Guide to the Project Management Body

of Knowledge - a standards document developed by the
PMI. The seventh edition came out in summer 2021.
(Pronounced ‘pimbok guide’)

PMI See Project Management Institute.

PMI-ACP The PMI’s Agile Project Management certification.

Stands for Project Management Institute – Agile Certified
Practitioner.

PMO Acronym standing for Project (or Program)

Management Office. A central administrating team for a
large project.

PMP Acronym: Project Management Professional. The primary

qualification offered by the PMI. The PMP exam is
assessed against the PMBOK.

Post Project A review between 6 and 18 months after project

Review completion, to evaluate the extent to which the project
has delivered the outcomes and benefits projected.

Portfolio A collection of projects or programs and other work

grouped together to meet strategic business objectives.
The projects or programs of the portfolio may not
necessarily be interdependent or directly related.

Portfolio The centralized management of one or more portfolios.

Management This includes identifying; prioritizing; authorizing;
managing; and controlling projects, programs, and other
related work, within the portfolio, to achieve specific
strategic business objectives.
PPP Acronym: Project, Program, and Portfolio.

Predecessor Activity that comes before another dependent activity.

Predictive Also known as ‘planned project management’ or

Project ‘traditional project management’, this approach follows a
Management plan prepared early in the project life cycle. Also
pejoratively known as Waterfall Project Management.

PRINCE2TM PRojects IN Controlled Environments. The UK

Government’s methodology for project management. It is
maintained by the Cabinet Office.

Procurement Fancy word for buying stuff. Usually implies a structured

process to get the right products or services at the best
price.

Product Also called Deliverable or Output, the things that the

project produces (physical things or events).

Product This sets out all the Products (or Deliverables) of your
Breakdown project in a structured way – hence articulates the scope
Structure (PBS) of your project.

Program or A group of projects and initiatives managed together –

Programme sharing something critical like joint objectives or a
common resource pool.

Program An estimating technique that starts with a network chart

Evaluation and and combines optimistic, best estimate and pessimistic
Review estimates to produce an overall estimate of the most likely
Technique duration and standard deviation (spread of likely
(PERT). durations) for a project activity.

Program Centralized management of a program to achieve its

Management strategic objectives and benefits.

Progress Report Progress reports set out a broad spread of essential

information on project status and tend to be prepared on
a regular cycle at predictable times. Status is often
summarized with a traffic light report, or RAG status.

Project A project is a coordinated set of tasks, which together

create a defined new product, process, or service, within
a constrained time and resource budget.

Project Audit A formal review of a project to establish that all processes

are being followed as they should. Part of project
Governance.
Project Board Governing body of a project – ultimately responsible for
the oversight and decision-making. Sometimes called the
Project Steering Group, steering groups can sometimes
have another role.

Project Brief See Project Definition Document.

Project Charter See Charter.

Project Closure Final project completion can be marked and formalized

Memo with a project closure memo.

Project Deferral See deferral

Project Also known as a project charter, project terms of

Definition reference, outline project initiation document (outline
Document PID), or project brief, a project definition document
contains the definition of your project, and therefore
sets out the definition of what the anticipated project is
(and is not).
Please note that the term Charter can also have other
meanings.

Project Initiation Formal name within PRINCE2TM of the full suite of plans,
Document (PID) controls, budget, specifications, and business case.

Project Lifecycle Sequence of stages of the project from beginning to end.

Project The process of managing a project. Deploys tools,

Management processes and attitudes that deal with the complexity and
uncertainty inherent in a project.

Project A US-based professional body for project managers. It

Management takes on the roles of standards setting, qualification
Institute certification, advocacy, professional development, and
professional fellowship. It is the largest such body in the
world and its PMP qualification is highly regarded.

Project A central body within an organization that carries out

Management some or all of a set of responsibilities related to the
Office (PMO) coordinated management of the projects and programs
under its domain. The responsibilities of a PMO can
range from providing project management support
functions, guidance, resource allocation, monitoring and
reporting, to being responsible for the direct management
of projects and programs.
Project Manager A project manager is that circus performer who can keep
juggling relationships with the many people involved in
the project, whilst keeping many tasks spinning like
plates. A good project manager must be able to get things
done, organize people and processes and succeed at
influencing, motivating, and inspiring their teams.

Project Mandate See Project Charter.

Project Plan See Plans.

Project Sponsor Also referred to Project Executive, Senior Responsible

Owner (SRO) or Project Director. Represents the needs
of the organization to the project and the needs of the
project to the organization. Acts as “manager” to the
Project Manager. Part of the project governance process,
the sponsor will either contribute to, or be wholly
responsible for, oversight and decision-making. They are
supported by a project board or steering group.

Project Placing the project on hold for an indefinite period.

Suspension Compare with Deferral.

Project Terms of See Project Definition Document.

Reference

Proximity The nearness of a risk to the project. Most often, this

(of a risk) refers to closeness in time, but it can also (sometimes)
refer to geographical proximity, or even emotional
proximity.

PV Present Value - See Discounted Cash Flow

Q
Quality Quality is so important to projects that we have three
essential processes to draw from: quality design, quality
assurance, and quality control. Quality measures the
extent to which products / deliverables conform to the
documented requirements and standards.

Quality Quality assurance is the way we carry out delivery to

Assurance make sure we produce them to the designed standards.
Preventative approach to quality management.

Quality Control Quality control is the process of checking deliverables

meet the required standards before we release them to
our client. Curative approach to quality management.
Quality Design Quality design is getting the right quality into the
specifications and design of the deliverables

Quality An organization’s set of standards, procedures,

Management processes, and responsibilities for maintaining quality.
System (QMS)

R
RACI chart A form of Responsibility Chart, where RACI stands for
four common roles of: responsible, authority (sometimes
accountable), consulted and informed.

RAD 1. Rapid Application Development - an agile software

development methodology in which developers talk
directly to end users to build solutions quickly.
2. Role/Activity Diagram – a tool for charting process
flows, where activities are shown in columns or rows
defined by organizational roles.

RAG Status Status report that allocates red, amber, or green status to
project activities depending upon their performance –
from good performance, according to plan (green) to poor
performance that deviates substantially (red).

RAM Resource Assignment Matrix. See Linear Responsibility

Chart.

Re-baselining After a significant change in circumstances, your

baseline plan may be out of date. When you draw up a
new plan and get that formally approved as a new
baseline plan, this is re-baselining.

Report The two types of report we produce in the delivery stage

are: progress reports also known as highlight reports,
summary reports or project updates, and exception
reports.

Request for Formal proposal that change is made to the scope,

Change objectives of the project, or to the specification of one
or more of the deliverables.

Requirements What customers, clients or users need from your project.

These can be both quality and functionally driven. To help
prioritize these, we use MoSCoW or KYIV analysis. In
many Agile methodologies, these are written as stories,
and collated into a backlog.
Resources Things that are used and depleted during a project.
Examples include assets, consumable materiel, money,
and people’s time. Often people are referred to as a
resource.

Resource Factors that in some way dictate the availability of

Constraints resources (people, material, asset, or logistic) – usually
implies an adverse effect.

Resource Resource scheduling process to ensure that resource

Levelling availability is not exceeded during the project schedule.
This is done by re-scheduling activities and re-allocating
resources. The objective is to ensure that neither the
project completion date nor any target finishes are
jeopardized.

Responsible We can be given a responsibility by someone else, and

we can also take responsibility and therefore make a
personal commitment. This is very much the project mt
attitude. Compare this with accountability.

Responsibility Powerful tools for planning what people we need and how
Chart we will use them. The two common forms are the RACI
chart and the responsibility grid, which is more formally
known as the linear responsibility chart (LRC).

Responsibility More formally known as the linear responsibility chart

Grid or Matrix (LRC).

Retrospective A review of the team’s work, focused on its processes,

methods, and interactions, rather than on the outcomes.
The term is broadly equivalent to Lessons Learned
Review but is used more commonly in Agile Project
Management. At the end of a Sprint, it is known as a
Sprint Retrospective.

Return on A financial measure of value, calculated from Total

Investment (ROI) Benefits (B) and Total Cost (C). ROI = (B-C)/C

RFC See Request for Change.

RFP In procurement, RFP stands for Request for Proposal.

RFQ In procurement, RFP stands for Request for Quotation.

Risk Project risk is uncertainty that can affect outcomes. Risk
can introduce a positive (opportunity) or negative (threat)
change. The level of uncertainty is measured by the
likelihood or probability of the risk and the effect on
outcomes is measured by its impact or sometimes
severity. The latter term, however, only implies the scale
of the impact, whilst the term impact captures both the
severity and nature of the effect. We tend to focus on
threats – risks with a negative impact.

Risk Acceptance A risk management strategy of accepting that eliminating,

(or Risk reducing, or transferring a risk is not cost-effective. So,
Tolerance) the decision is to accept that the risk may occur, without
prior action.

Risk Appetite The level of exposure to risk that you are prepared to
tolerate.

Risk Risk management is a vital aspect of project

Management management that recognizes the importance of
anticipating and dealing proactively with the things that
could go wrong.

Risk Log See Risk Register.

Risk Owner See Owner.

Risk Potential Rapid evaluation of the scale and sources of risk

Assessment / associated with a prospective project. Used as a tool to
Review evaluate whether to proceed with full definition and
planning.

Risk Ranking Using assessment of risk likelihood, impact, and

proximity to prioritize risks in order of importance.

Risk Register Formal document and management tool that records all
risks identified by the project team, along with the team’s
assessment of the risks, plans to manage the risks, and
progress against the plans.

Risk Tolerance See Risk Acceptance

ROI See Return on Investment.

Rolling Wave A planning method that plans near-term work in detail and
Planning longer-term work in outline.

Roll-up See Hammock.

Root Cause Analytical approach to understanding failures, that seeks
Analysis out the primary, or root, causes. Examples include FMEA,
Fishbone (Ishikawa) diagrams, and 5 Whys.

S
SAFe Scaled Agile Framework - an agile project management
methodology used for software development, that has
tiers sophistication that can be applied to products and
small projects (Essential), large projects and programs
(Large), portfolios (Portfolio), and enterprise level (Full).

Scenario A planning process that starts by identifying a

Planning representative range of scenarios and working each one
through to understand the implications. Usually there is a
‘best case’ and a worst case’ scenario in the shortlist.

Schedule The time component of your project plan, showing when

activities are due to start and finish.

Scope Scope sets out how much work we need to do and how
much our project will produce. It can be expressed in
terms of activities, articulated by the WBS or in terms of
deliverables, articulated by the PBS. An inevitable
pressure, which project managers work hard to counter, is
for people to add work to our project; a process known as
scope creep.

Scope Creep The tendency for people to sneak extra work and outputs
into the project’s list of responsibilities. Can cause a
project to fail under the burden of additional work,
without the corresponding resources.

Scrum Project management methodology that follows the

principles of Agile. Currently the most widely used such
method. Based on short sequences of work (Sprints) that
are set in motion by user-prioritization of new features.

Scrumban Project management methodology that follows the

principles of Agile. Combines aspects of Kanban and
Scrum methodologies.

Scrum Master In the Scrum methodology, the person who oversees the
development process, supports the development team,
and ensures they follow the agreed way of working.

Scrum of An agile project management methodology that scales

Scrums up the Scrum methodology, for use by multiple teams
working on the same product or product set.
S-Curve A graphical representation of cumulative costs, staff
hours, depleted resources, or other quantities plotted
against time.

Senior Supplier Project Board level representative of the needs and

interests of the project’s suppliers.

Senior Owner or A PRINCE2 term for the individual responsible for

Senior ensuring that a project or program meets its objectives
Responsible and delivers the projected benefits. They are the owner of
Owner the overall business change that is being supported by
the project. They will be senior enough to take personal
responsibility for successful delivery of the project.

Senior User Project Board level representative of the needs and

interests of the project’s users.

Severity Often used interchangeably with impact, severity implies

on a quantitative measure of impact on one chosen scale.

Sign-off Formal approval of a decision. The term implies a

physical record with signature.

Slack Informal word, used to mean Float.

Slippage The amount of float used up by the current activity due to

a delayed start or slow completion. If an activity without
float is delayed, the entire project will slip.

Snagging The process of identify and remediating small faults.

Sometimes just prior to project handover; sometimes
after handover.

SOW Acronym: Statement of Work.

Specification A specification defines deliverables as precisely as

possible. These derive from a good understanding of the
requirements; both quality and functionally driven.

Sponsor See Project Sponsor.

Sprint A short development period within an agile project. Also

known as a timebox or, more generically, an iteration.
The term originates in the Scrum methodology.

Sprint See Retrospective.

Retrospective

SRO Acronym: Senior Responsible Owner – a PRINCE2TM

term for the Project Sponsor.
Stage Projects are divided into stages, or phases to help us
manage them and, in How to Manage a Great Project, we
worked with four basic stages: Definition, Planning,
Delivery and Closure.

Stage Boundary Stages are separated by stage boundaries, also known

as stage gates, gates, or gateways. These are review
points where we make go or no-go decisions based on
how the project is performing and the value we will get
from our further investment.

Stage Payment A payment made to fund a part of a project that is tied to

completion of a specific stage in the work. Often linked to
the successful completion of a Gateway Review.

Stakeholder Anyone with an interest in your project – whether

affected by its outcome or process, or with an ability to
affect its outcome or process. Look out for Mike Clayton’s
2014 book about stakeholder engagement, “The
Influence Agenda”.

Stakeholder The process of engaging with Stakeholders.

Engagement

Stakeholder Term still used but now widely deprecated, for

Management Stakeholder Engagement.

Stand-up See Morning Stand-up.

Statement of A description of the goods and services a supplier is

Work (SOW) contracted to provide.

Status Report Formal report circulated to the project team, sponsor,

board, and stakeholders on a regular cycle. It records
the status of a work package or the whole project. Part
of the project control and communication processes.

Steering Group The term is sometimes used as an alternative to project

board, but steering groups are sometimes a different
body with an advisory role, feeding their comments into
the board.

Story A user-defined expression of a particular functional

requirement. Sometimes termed a User Story. See also
Epic.

Story Point We can measure the amount of work needed to complete

a Story in terms of an abstract unit called a Story Point.
Use in Agile Project Management to both measure
progress and estimate work to be done.
Success Criteria A term that should be deprecated because it is used in
two different ways.
1. A condition that is necessary to have in place, if
your project is to succeed. An input to the project.
2. Most commonly: a condition that your project must
satisfy if it is to be considered a success. An output
of the project.
Because there is no logical reason to consider one of
these contradictory definitions to be ‘right’ and the other
to be wrong, you need to assess the meaning from the
situation. I advise you not to use the term yourself!
See also Critical Success Factors.

Successor Activity that comes after another dependent activity.

System Test A stage in software testing where the new components

are fully integrated into the whole system and the
functioning of the whole system is tested.

T
Task A single thing that needs to be done.

TCQ Triangle The Time-Cost-Quality Triangle, also known as the Iron

Triangle, Triangle of Balance, or the Triple Constraint.

Team A team is a small number of people who collaborate to

achieve a shared goal.

Tender The process of identifying, briefing, evaluating, selecting,

Management and appointing suppliers of goods or services to the
project. The process follows a formal procurement
procedure and creates tender documentation against
which prospective suppliers offer their tender responses.
These are used for selecting a preferred supplier

Threat A risk with an adverse impact upon the outcome. The

opposite of opportunity. The word risk is sometimes
used loosely to mean threat.

Three-point An estimate of time or cost that has three parts: a

Estimate minimum likely figure, a most likely figure, and a
maximum likely figure. Often, these three figures are
combined in a weighted average. The standard PERT
methodology weights them 1, 4, and 1, respectively.
Time and A form of contract, where the supplier is paid for the time
Materials expended and materials supplied. This carries no risk to
the supplier.

Time Box Generic term for what is now more commonly called a
Sprint.

To-be state The future planned state of an organization as described

by the business blueprint. Compare with As-is state.

Total Float The maximum time by which an activity can be delayed

without delaying project completion. See also Float.

Traffic Light See RAG Status.

Report

Triple Constraint See TCQ Triangle

T-shirt Sizing An Agile Estimating method that expresses the scale of a

story in terms of a small number of ‘sizes’, like small,
medium, and large.

U
UAT See User Acceptance Test.

Uncertainty A lack of knowledge about a situation. In Risk

Management, it can be measured as a percentage
likelihood, but often more helpfully measure as high,
medium, or low likelihood.

Unit Test See Component Test.

User Story See Story.

User The final stage of software testing. Users test the finished
Acceptance Test product to assess whether it meets their requirements
(UAT) and is fit for purpose. Upon acceptance, it is ready to ‘go
live’ and move into a production environment.

User Test And software test where real users participate in the
testing. See also: Alpha Test, Beta Test, User
Acceptance Test.
V
Value Something considered desirable has value. It is a result of
both cost (C) and benefit (B). But calculating the value
(V) is tricky.
• PMI says: V= B-C
• APM says: V=B/C
Both make good sense, but give very different values.
Therefore, I prefer to calculate Return on Investment.

Value The process of reviewing the specifications of

Engineering products/deliverables, to drive down cost with
acceptable consequences for scope and quality. The
intended result is to increase the net value of the
deliverable.

Variation Order An approved change to the project, in a contractually

(VO) binding form.

Velocity The rate of doing work. Usually either the work completed
during a single development phase or iteration, or the
average of work completed in previous iterations.

Virtual Team A team that does not work together physically all the
time.

Voice of the A process of listening to customers about what they do,

Customer (VOC) the products or services they need, how they use them,
and what their assessment is of what is available. This is
a stakeholder engagement process that is used at the
start of a product development project.

VUCA Acronym standing for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex,

Ambiguous. A description of the project environment.

W
Waterfall Project An outdated Predictive Project Management model for
Management software development.
Also used by some Agile Project Management
practitioners as a pejorative term for Predictive Project
Management.

Whole Life Costing a project to take full account of all capital and
Costing revenue costs of development, operation, and
decommissioning. The only truly honest way of costing a
project.
Workaround An alternative approach that will get you to the desired
outcome, while avoiding something that has become too
costly, too risk, or not possible.

Work Formal tool that breaks the project (the work) down into a
Breakdown structure – allowing a firm inventory of tasks, in a logical
Structure (WBS) hierarchy.
From this, we can allocate people to tasks, to create an
organizational breakdown structure (OBS) and we can
put cost estimates against each activity to build up a
project budget in the form of a cost breakdown
structure (CBS). The deliverables can be documented in
hierarchical format in a similar way, to create a product
breakdown structure (PBS).

Work Package A defined chunk of work, usually contained within a single

Work Stream. We can allocate specific chunks of work in
a formal manner, using a document called a Work
Package Definition (WPD). Managed by a Work Package
Manager.

WPD See Work Package.

Work Stream A subset of the Work Breakdown Structure that is

allocated to a single manager, the Work Stream Leader.

X
XP eXtreme Programming - an agile software development
methodology.

Z
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This is a ten-week course of emails that will enable you to:

• Navigate the stages of a successful project

• Define your project to build the foundation to success
• Pull together robust plans
• Do everything you need to during the crucial delivery stage

As a reader of Decode the Jargon of Project Management, you can get this at
a special price, at http://www.onlinepmcourses.com/pmssf/

At OnlinePMCourses we are developing a huge array of specialist courses

covering all the skills you will need to start, develop, and build your project
management career. We aim to create the most comprehensive portfolio of
project management self-development resources on the web. This will include
a library of free resources.

So, visit us often.

Dr Mike Clayton
Founder: OnlinePMCourses.com