Project management

Terms related to project management, including definitions about project management methodologies and tools.

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70 percent rule for productivity - According to the 70 percent rule, which has its roots in athletics, employees are most productive when a majority of their time is spent working at a less intense pace.
ABC analysis (Pareto analysis) - ABC analysis, also known as Pareto analysis, is a method used to categorize something according to its importance or value in a given context.
accountability - Accountability is an assurance that an individual or an organization is evaluated on its performance or behavior related to something for which it is responsible.
acquisition plan - An acquisition plan, in the context of procurement, is a business document specifying all relevant considerations for the processes involved with acquiring goods, services or other organizations.
action plan - An action plan is a document that lists what steps must be taken to achieve a specific goal.
ad inventory (advertising inventory) - Ad inventory is the total amount of space that a publisher has available for advertisements at any given time.
adulting - Adulting is the assumption of tasks and behaviors associated with normal grown-up life, along with the implication that the individual in question does not particularly identify as an adult.
ASAP, ALAP and ATAP - ASAP, ATAP and ALAP are acronyms that stand for, respectively, as soon as possible, as timely as possible and as late as possible.
availability bias - In psychology, the availability bias is the human tendency to rely on information that comes readily to mind when evaluating situations or making decisions.
billable hours - Billable hours are the amounts of an employee’s work time that can be charged to a client.
block diagram - A block diagram is a visual representation of a system that uses simple, labeled blocks that represent single or multiple items, entities or concepts, connected by lines to show relationships between them.
broken window theory - Broken window theory is the concept that each problem that goes unattended in a given environment affects people's attitude toward that environment and leads to more problems.
Build, operate, transfer (BOT) - Build, operate, transfer (BOT) is a project management technique where a company hires a third-party firm to create a new subsidiary or product.
build-measure-learn (BML) - Build-measure-learn (BML) is a process of building a product, measuring consumer metrics and learning from them to better respond to customer needs and improve the product for the ultimate sustainability of the company.
burn-in - Burn-in is a test in which a system or component is made to run for an extended period of time to detect problems.
business case - A business case is a written or verbal value proposition that is intended to educate a decision maker and convince them to take some kind of action.
business plan - A business plan is a document demonstrating the feasibility of a prospective new business and providing a roadmap for its first several years of operation.
business process automation (BPA) - Business process automation (BPA) is the use of advanced technology to complete business processes with minimal human intervention.
CALMS - CALMS is a conceptual framework for the integration of development and operations (DevOps) teams, functions and systems within an organization.
case study - In a business context, a case study is a documented implementation of something, such as a practice, a product or a service.
center of excellence (CoE) - A center of excellence (CoE) is a team of skilled knowledge workers whose mission is to provide best practices for a particular area of interest.
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) - The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) is a vendor-neutral, entry-level certification to help individuals acquire project management (PM) skills.
change agent (agent of change) - A change agent, or agent of change, is someone who promotes and enables change to happen within any group or organization.
change control - Change control is a systematic approach to managing all changes made to a product or system.
change management strategy - A change management strategy is a plan for or systematic approach to dealing with a transition or transformation in an organization.
change request - A change request is a formal proposal for an alteration to some product or system.
channel strategy - A channel strategy is a vendor's plan for moving a product or a service through the chain of commerce to the end customer.
chief operating officer (COO) - A chief operating officer (COO) is the corporate executive who oversees ongoing business operations within the company.
chief procurement officer (CPO) - The chief procurement officer, or CPO, leads an organization's procurement department and oversees the acquisitions of goods and services made by the organization.
chief risk officer (CRO) - The chief risk officer (CRO) is the corporate executive tasked with assessing and mitigating significant competitive, regulatory and technological threats to an enterprise's capital and earnings.
Chief Technology Officer (CTO) - The chief technology officer (CTO) is the individual within an organization who oversees the current technology and creates relevant policy.
circular economy - A circular economy is a model of production and consumption, where items and products are reused whenever possible rather than discarded.
class diagram - A class diagram is an illustration of the relationships and source code dependencies among classes in the Unified Modeling Language (UML).
communication plan - A communication plan is a policy-driven approach to providing company stakeholders with certain information.
CompTIA Project+ - CompTIA Project+ is the Computing Technology Industry Association's certification program designed to demonstrate a person has a validated understanding of and skills in project management.
cone of uncertainty - The cone of uncertainty is a project management tool that explains why estimates become more accurate over the span of a project's lifecycle.
contingency budget (cost contingency) - Contingency, in the context of project management, is an amount of money that is included to cover potential events that are not specifically accounted for in a cost estimate.
continuous integration (CI) - Continuous integration (CI) is a software development practice in which frequent, isolated changes are immediately tested and reported on when they're added to a larger codebase.
contract theory - Contract theory is the study of how people and organizations develop legal agreements in situations with uncertain conditions, unknown factors and information asymmetry.
corporate culture model - A corporate culture model is the organizing principle behind the values, beliefs and attitudes that characterize a company and guide its practices.
corporate performance management (CPM) - Corporate performance management (CPM) is a term used to describe the various processes and methodologies involved in aligning an organization's strategies and goals to its plans and executions in order to control the success of the company.
cost management - Cost management is the process of planning and controlling the budget of a business.
crisis management - Crisis management is the application of strategies designed to help an organization deal with a sudden and significant negative event, while maintaining business continuity.
critical path method (CPM) - The critical path method (CPM) is a step-by-step project management technique for process planning that defines critical and non-critical tasks with the goal of preventing project schedule problems and process bottlenecks.
customer journey map - A customer journey map is a visual representation of the stages a customer goes through when interacting with a company.
daily stand-up meeting - A daily stand-up meeting is a short organizational meeting that is held each day.
data-driven decision management (DDDM) - Data-driven decision management (DDDM) is an approach to business governance that values actions that can be backed up with verifiable data.
deductive argument - A deductive argument is a logic construct with two or more premises and a conclusion where if the premises are true then the conclusion must also be true.
demand planning - Demand planning is the process of forecasting the demand for a product or service so it can be produced and delivered more efficiently and to the satisfaction of customers.
device mesh - A device mesh is an ad hoc network in the internet of things (IoT).
discrete event simulation (DES) - Discrete event simulation (DES) is the process of codifying the behavior of a complex system as an ordered sequence of well-defined events.
distribution requirements planning (DRP) - Distribution requirements planning (DRP) is a systematic process to make the delivery of goods more efficient by determining which goods, in what quantities and at what location, are required to meet anticipated demand.
distributive bargaining - Distributive bargaining is an adversarial type of negotiation in which it is assumed that any gain of a competitor is a loss to the other party.
distributor agreement (distribution agreement) - A distributor agreement, also known as a distribution agreement, is a contract between channel partners that stipulates the responsibilities of both parties.
DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) - DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) is Six Sigma tool for improving an existing process.
Eisenhower Matrix - The Eisenhower Matrix is a time management tool for prioritizing tasks.
empiricism - Empiricism is a philosophical theory applicable in many disciplines, including science and software development, that human knowledge comes predominantly from experiences gathered through the five senses.
employee productivity - Employee productivity, sometimes referred to as workforce productivity, is an assessment of the efficiency of a worker or group of workers.
end of life (EOL) - End of life (EOL), in the context of manufacturing and product lifecycles, is the final stages of a product's existence.
enterprise project management (EPM) - Enterprise project management (EPM) represents the professional practices, processes and tools involved in managing multiple projects taking place simultaneously across the enterprise.
enterprise project management office - An enterprise project management office (EPMO) is a department within an organization charged with setting priorities, standards and goals for the organization's portfolio of projects.
equilibrium price - An equilibrium price, also known as a market-clearing price, is the consumer cost assigned to some product or service such that supply and demand are equal, or close to equal.
Fibonacci sequence - The Fibonacci sequence is a set of integers (the Fibonacci numbers) that starts with a zero, followed by a one, then by another one, and then by a series of steadily increasing numbers.
fist to five (fist of five) - Fist to five, or fist of five, is a consensus-building technique used by Agile software development teams to poll team members and come to an agreement.
fixed price - A fixed price is a non-negotiable sum charged for a product, service or piece of work.
float (project float, slack) - In project management, float or slack is the time span between the completion of the last task on the critical path and the finish date for the project.
fudge factor - A fudge factor is an element inserted into a calculation, formula or model to allow for error or uncertainty.
Gantt chart - A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart developed as a production control tool in 1917 by Henry L.
garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) - Garbage in, garbage out, or GIGO, refers to the idea that in any system, the quality of output is determined by the quality of the input.
gig economy - A gig economy is a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organizations hire independent workers for short-term commitments.
gold plating - Gold plating is the practice of making changes to a project that are outside of the original agreed-upon scope.
Hofstadter's law - Hofstadter's law states that a project always takes longer than expected, even when the law is taken into account.
Hyperledger - Hyperledger is a collection of open source projects created to support the development of blockchain-based distributed ledgers.
IDOV methodology (identify, design, optimize, verify) - The IDOV methodology (Identify, Design, Optimize and Verify methodology) is a component of the Six Sigma management system intended to guide processes involved in creating a new new product, service or business process.
intelligent workflow - Intelligent workflow is an orchestration method that integrates analytics, AI, machine learning and automation.
IT chargeback system - An IT chargeback system is an accounting strategy that applies the costs of IT services, hardware or software to the business unit in which they are used.
IT consultant - A consultant is an experienced individual in a given field who provides expert advice for a fee.
IT project management - Every IT project should begin with two questions: What business problem are we trying to solve? And does everyone agree it's worth the effort to solve it?.
IT project manager - An IT project manager is a professional charged with overseeing the process of planning, executing and delegating responsibilities around an organization's information technology (IT) pursuits and goals.
iteration - In agile software development, an iteration is a single development cycle, usually measured as one week or two weeks.
ITIL V3 - ITIL V3 is the third version of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), a globally recognized collection of best practices for managing IT and for implementing IT service management (ITSM) practices.
law of unintended consequences - The law of unintended consequences is a frequently-observed phenomenon in which any action has results that are not part of the actor's purpose.
lean management - Lean management is an approach to managing an organization that supports the concept of continuous improvement, a long-term approach to work that systematically seeks to achieve small, incremental changes in processes in order to improve efficiency and quality.
Mandela Effect - The Mandela Effect is an observed phenomenon in which a large segment of the population misremembers a significant event or shares a memory of an event that did not actually occur.
maximizer - A maximizer is an individual who consistently seeks the optimal outcome for any endeavor.
Microsoft D - Microsoft D is an end-user programming language in development as part of the company's Oslo service-oriented architecture (SOA) initiative.
Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) - Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) is a series of 23 documents that guide IT professionals through the processes of creating, implementing and managing efficient and cost-effective services.
Microsoft Planner - Microsoft Planner is a web-based visual task management application that enables enterprise teams to create, assign and organize work in order to execute projects.
minimum marketable feature (MMF) - A minimum marketable feature (MMF) is the smallest set of functionality in a product that must be provided for a customer to recognize any value.
model of reflection - A model of reflection is a structured process that is used to guide personal and situational analysis and improvement.
monotasking (single-tasking) - Monotasking, also known as single-tasking, is the practice of dedicating oneself to a given task and minimizing potential interruptions until the task is completed or a significant period of time has elapsed.
morphological analysis - Morphological analysis is the process of examining possible resolutions to unquantifiable, complex problems involving many factors.
MoSCoW method - The MoSCoW method is a four-step approach to prioritizing which project requirements provide the best return on investment (ROI).
negative float (negative slack) - Negative float, also known as negative slack, is a common concept in project management that refers to the amount of time that must be saved to complete a project on time.
OODA loop - The OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) is a four-step approach to decision-making that focuses on filtering available information, putting it in context and quickly making the most appropriate decision while also understanding that changes can be made as more data becomes available.
organizational change management (OCM) - Organizational change management (OCM) is a type of change management framework for managing the effect of new business processes, changes in organizational structure, or cultural changes within an enterprise.
organizational goals - Organizational goals are strategic objectives that a company's management establishes to outline expected outcomes and guide employees' efforts.

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