Project Management Definitions
Here's a list of project management terms and my take on their definitions.
Have also added project manager usage context as well as some comments / tips which you may find useful.
Please let me know in the comments box below if you feel anything has been misrepresented or if you have any improvement suggestions.
Term:
Baseline
Definition:
Snapshot of the agreed constraints (budget, schedule, scope etc) of your project at a given time.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Used to compare how your project is currently tracking against a particular baseline. E.g. "We are tracking 3 weeks behind schedule against the last approved baseline"
Comments / Tips
Key points to baseline your project are on initiation and each time a variation is approved that impacts your project's constraints.
Term:
Build Phase
Definition:
The Build Phase is about building the solution as per agreed design specifications
Project Manager Usage Context:
Activities in this phase of the project include sourcing components of the solution (such as purchasing hardware or software), the actual configuration and standing up of the solution as well as end user testing.
Comments / Tips
Ensure that acceptance testing is performed inline to the agreed limitations and specifications of the solution.
Term:
Change Freeze
Definition:
A period where no changes are permitted. This is usually applied in periods of extra caution.
Project Manager Usage Context:
In IT project management, usually applies to a freeze on any changes made on production systems. Usually applied during the Christmas period.
Comments / Tips
It's always a good idea to communicate change freeze dates to stakeholders as early possible. Also be clear what components the change freeze applies to as well as the reasons behind the change freeze.
Term:
Close Out Phase
Definition:
The Close Out Phase of a project is about formally closing out the project and tying up loose ends.
Project Manager Usage Context:
This is where the project team gets disbanded and the project manager completes any last remaining activities in the project.
This phase could contain activities such as a lessons learnt session, archiving project documentation, closing out project codes and celebrating project success.
Comments / Tips
Project managers often underestimate the amount of time and effort it takes to close out a project.
Term:
Critical Path
Definition:
The specific path of tasks in your project where if any one of those does not complete within the allocated duration, the end date of the project will be pushed out accordingly.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Used to help ensure that projects are delivered within the agreed schedule, particularly if hard dates need to be met.
Project managers use scheduling tools such as MS Project to help identify which exact tasks and activities are on the critical path of their project, so they can manage them accordingly.
E.g. “We absolutely need to receive that equipment from the vendor by 14th October, otherwise there is no way we will be able to meet our go-live date - this activity is on the critical path of the project”
Comments / Tips
The term “Critical Path” is often misunderstood by anyone who is not a project manager to mean that the task is “critical”, however completely missing the point that it's critically time sensitive to your project to the extent of busting your project’s schedule constraints.
You may want to avoid using the term "Critical Path" on its own and instead also express something to the effect that the entire project schedule hangs on their ability to deliver the task by a particular date.
Term:
Critical Success Criteria
Definition:
A set of measurable and quantifiable criteria that is crucial to the success of your project.
Project Manager Usage Context:
These are usually provided by the project owner or sponsor and are used to determine if a project can be considered as being a success.
Comments / Tips
Always ensure you have an agreed set of critical success criteria defined for your project.
Also make sure that each critical success criteria point is something that can be measured or quantified rather than open for interpretation or open-ended.
Term:
Definition Phase
Definition:
The Definition Phase of a project is about establishing detailed specifics of the solution in terms of both the design and implementation aspects .
Project Manager Usage Context:
Activities in this phase often include documenting and agreeing what the work instructions are, the solution design, who is doing what, what time frames, what the risks are, what user acceptance testing needs to occur, how the solution will be rolled out, business change management aspects, etc.
Comments / Tips
You ideally want to close off this phase of the project with as few assumptions as possible.
Term:
Design Phase
Definition:
The Design Phase of a project is about establishing the design specifications of the solution that will be implemented as part of the project.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Activities in phase often include requirements gathering, design workshops and design documentation.
Comments / Tips
Would recommend that you only close out this phase once the Design Specification / Design Document is fully signed off.
Don't make the mistake implementing something without an approved design.
Term:
Document Approval
Definition:
Document Approval is something that is requested and given to a document. It is a way of expressing formal acceptance and giving permission from an accountability perspective for any document related activities to go ahead.
Project Manager Usage Context:
As a project manager, you would usually request document approval once all the relevant project team members and stakeholders have provided their endorsement to the document.
Document approval is usually requested from a key project stakeholder who has appropriate levels of delegated accountability, such as your project owner or project sponsor.
E.g. "We will need to get the Chief Financial Officer to provide final approval of our Project Implementation Plan before we can progress with the finance system upgrade project - however we will never get this without obtaining full document endorsements all the key finance team stakeholders"
Comments / Tips
You would usually first obtain all the required document endorsements before you request and present for document approval.
Rather than email a lengthy document for approval, it much more effective to schedule a document approval session to run through key items / and what exactly they would actually approving.
It's also a good idea to have key members of your project team present and on hand to provide any backing information.
Term:
Document Endorsement
Definition:
Document Endorsement is something that is requested and given to a document as a way of expressing formal agreement of the document from the perspective of quality.
Project Manager Usage Context:
As a project manager, you can request relevant project team members and key stakeholders to provide their formal "endorsement" on document deliverables.
This is usually requested once the document is in a finalised state.
E.g. "Roger - please can you review and provide your endorsement of the Detailed Design Specification before we request the Chief Operating Office to provide final document approval for us to go head?"
Endorsement of a document can be provided in several different ways such as:
Physically signing the document
Digital signature
Email approval
It really depends on organisation preferences / what a project manager deems acceptable within the context of the project and it's risk classification.
Comments / Tips
When asking people for their endorsement, be sure to explain the difference between providing endorsement and approvals.
You are only asking them to provide endorsement within their area of expertise and in the context of their role rather than from an accountability level.
It's also often much simpler, quicker and easier to host a group document endorsement session rather than seek endorsement one person at a time.
Term:
Evaluation Phase
Definition:
The Evaluation Phase is all about narrowing down various aspects of the project to a single recommended solution the project should progress with.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Activities in this phase include requirements gathering, agreeing solution selection criteria, tendering, and selection of a recommended solution by key project stakeholders.
Comments / Tips
One of the key outputs of this phase of the project is a Solution Requirements specification that has been fully signed off by all the appropriate project stakeholders.
Term:
Feasibility Phase
Definition:
The Feasibility Phase of a project is where you establish if the proposed project is feasible from a technical, schedule as well as budgetary perspective.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Often used as a nimble way of getting the project off the ground without having to commit to providing a solution or asking the project sponsor to commit to large budgets.
E.g. “We estimate the project may cost by cost up-to $750k however there is some uncertainty if vendors can actually meet all the requirements and associated costs”
…”Let’s get a Feasibility phase funded so we can perform an Request for Proposal and firm up both what is technical possible and what it will cost”
Comments / Tips
To make them worthwhile, the Feasibility Phase of your project should ideally only cost a fraction of what the overall estimated project costs are likely to be.
E.g. It would be a very tough sell to request a feasibility phase that will cost $25k on an overall estimated project cost of $50k.
Term:
Finish-to-Finish (FF)
Definition:
In project scheduling, setting a dependency rule that the ‘finish date’ of a particular task is dependent on the ‘finish date’ of its specified predecessor task.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Setting Finish-to-Finish dependencies is done within a project scheduling application such as MS Project by either the Project Manager of a Project Scheduler.
Finish-to-Finish is one of the less common task dependencies.
Setting task dependencies is an integral part of working out the planned duration of your project as well as critical to both the sequence order and timing of all project tasks.
Comments / Tips
To avoid any confusion with your project stakeholders, avoid using the term “Finish-to-Finish” when communicating this sort of dependency.
Rather, lay it out in layman's terms.
E.g. “System performance monitoring and data analytics collecting can continue running but needs to stop as soon as Team B completes their testing.”
There are 4 types of task dependencies - also see :
Term:
Finish-to-Start (FS)
Definition:
In project scheduling, setting a dependency rule that the ‘start date’ of a particular task is dependent on the ‘finish date’ of its specified predecessor task.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Setting Finish-to-Start dependencies is done within a project scheduling application such as MS Project by either the Project Manager of a Project Scheduler.
Finish-to-Start is the most common type of dependency.
Setting task dependencies is an integral part of working out the planned duration of your project as well as critical to both the sequence order and timing of all project tasks.
Comments / Tips
To avoid any confusion with your project stakeholders, avoid using the term “Finish-to-Start” when communicating this sort of dependency.
Rather, lay it out in layman's terms.
E.g. “We cannot start any work on the project until formal project funding has been approved and funds released to the project”
There are 4 types of task dependencies - also see :
Term:
Implementation Phase
Definition:
The Implementation Phase of a project is about rolling out of the solution to the end users of the project.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Activities in this phase include end user training (if required), business change management, making the solution part of the live production environment as well as handover to operations.
Comments / Tips
Always a good idea to ensure that there is adequate post implementation support from the project team after the go-live.
Term:
Initiation Phase
Definition:
The Initiation Phase of a Project is about identifying the base fundamental and foundational aspects of the project.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Activities in this phase include discovery of what the project is about.
Key items to identify include, budget, schedule and scope constraints, project team members, project sponsor, project owner, project steering groups and governing committees as well as a skeleton framework of what project phases and activities will be undertaken over the course of the project.
Comments / Tips
Recommend having a project team kick-off meeting once all the various key aspects have been identified to help get everyone aligned to the project fundamentals as well as the base framework of how the project will be run.
For kick-off meeting tips, check out:
https://www.21st5.com/post/5-tips-crushing-project-kick-off-meetings
Term:
Kanban
Definition:
Kanban is an agile project methodology that’s often used in software development projects.
Project Manager Usage Context:
It works on the premise of having a Kanban Board that has predefined swim-lane stages of the required lifecycle and having task items (in the form of sticky notes) move through these stages as they progress.
Comments / Tips
If you’re using Kanban in a physical sense i.e., with an actual physical Kanban wall with sticky notes – would recommend taking a photo of the wall at frequent periods as a backup.
This is just in case the wall gets disrupted for whatever reason.
Term:
Murphy’s Law
Definition:
A supposed law of the universe that "Anything that can go wrong - will go wrong" when you most need it not to.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Often spoken by project managers to express that no matter what they have planned for, Murphy's Law will most probably still strike their project with something of relative certainly not panning out as expected.
E.g. “We got the best person in the country to do the design, a week later they won the lottery, decided to retire and now we’re back to square one – that’s Murphy’s Law”
Comments / Tips
The more you plan and cater for things that could go wrong in your project, the more you decrease the chances of Murphy's Law affecting your project.
Term:
PRINCE2
Definition:
PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments version 2) is a project management methodology that is widely used.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Project Managers that use PRINCE2 usually complete training and have to pass an exam to become certified.
Comments / Tips
Initially adopted by the UK government as a standard for IT projects in the late 70's.
Term:
Project Phase
Definition:
A "Project Phase" is a group of activities within the project.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Used to break the project into smaller logical parts. E.g. Initiation Phase, Design Phase, Implementation Phase etc.
Comments / Tips
Always a good idea to agree beforehand with your key stakeholders which phases the project will be going through as well as the activities and outputs required for each phase of the project.
Term:
Request for Information (RFI)
Definition:
An RFI is a mini tender process where an RFI document is published to a group of vendors to request information around capability and services provided for comparative purposes.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Project managers tend to use RFIs to narrow down the list of potential vendors that will participate in a much more expansive tender such as an RFP or RFP.
E.g. “We have identified 21 potential vendors that can provide services required - lets perform an RFI to narrow it down to 5 based on some agreed selection criteria such as local presence and those that do not subcontract their technical support capability."
Comments / Tips
Narrowing down of vendors participating in larger tenders is always recommended due to the amount of effort required by both the vendor responding to the tender and the assessment work required by the issuing organisation.
You should check with your organisation’s procurement team before drafting and publishing one of these.
Several standards as well as terms and conditions may need to be included as mandatory.
Term:
Request for Proposal (RFP)
Definition:
An RFP is a competitive tender process where an RFP document is published to a group of vendors to request proposals based around their ability to provide a solution to meet specified requirements.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Project managers tend to use RFPs where several specific business requirements have been provided and various different vendor solutions are potentially capable of meeting those requirements.
E.g. “We have gathered a total of 75 different requirements across the various business groups in relation to the Business Process Automation system - lets put it together and issue an RFP to the panel of those 3 pre-qualified vendors”
Comments / Tips
Where there are large numbers of requirements in your RFP, recommend specifying which are mandatory / showstopper / non-negotiable requirements that the vendor must meet if they do not want to be excluded from consideration.
You should check with your organisation’s procurement team before drafting and publishing one of these.
Several standards as well as terms and conditions may need to be included as mandatory.
Term:
Request for Quotation (RFQ)
Definition:
An RFQ is a mini tender process where an RFQ document is published to a group of vendors to request their best competitive pricing in the form of a quotation.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Project managers tend to use RFQs when they want to obtain an 'apples for apples' best pricing for standard off-the-shelf type items where quantities are already known.
RFQs often have quick turnaround times and vendors can respond with a simple quotation.
E.g. "We need 250 of those wide screen monitors - let's perform an RFQ to see which of our providers gives us the best pricing and lead times"
Comments / Tips
You should check with your organisation’s procurement team before drafting and publishing one of these.
Several standards as well as terms and conditions may need to be included as mandatory.
Term:
She'll be right
Definition:
A casual term used to dismiss concerns or risks raised on the belief it will just work out.
Project Manager Usage Context:
An example of usage is as follows:
Concerned Stakeholder: "What about a rollback plan if there are unexpected issues?"
Project Manager: "Don't worry, she'll be right"
Comments / Tips
When a stakeholder is expressing risks and concerns around your project, would strongly advise against suggesting "She'll be right" or "she'll be alright".
Term:
Sod's Law
Definition:
Similar to Murphy's Law - A supposed law of the universe that "If something can go wrong, it will" when you most need it not to.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Often spoken by project managers to express that no matter what they have planned for, Sod's Law will most probably still strike their project with something of relative certainly not panning out as expected.
E.g. “We were all on track to do the big cutover on the night, when the network admins got trapped in the elevator - then fell ill from some dodgy take away they treated themselves before coming in – that’s Sod's Law”
Comments / Tips
This term is more commonly used in the UK than "Murphy’s Law"
Term:
Start-to-Finish (SF)
Definition:
In project scheduling, setting a dependency rule that the ‘finish date’ of a particular task is dependent on the ‘start date’ of its specified predecessor task.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Setting Start-to-Finish dependencies is done within a project scheduling application such as MS Project by either the Project Manager of a Project Scheduler.
Start-to-Finish is the least used task dependency.
Setting task dependencies is an integral part of working out the planned duration of your project as well as critical to both the sequence order and timing of all project tasks.
Comments / Tips
This is the most mind-bending task dependency out of the 4 by far because we often think of schedules running from start to finish.
This is however a great dependency to use if you want to build a schedule from a certain point and work backwards.
E.g. “We have a hard date 1st May to meet that tender submission deadline - let’s work backwards from that date and establish what tasks and activities need to happen”
There are 4 types of task dependencies - also see :
Term:
Start-to-Start (SS)
Definition:
In project scheduling, setting a dependency rule that the ‘start date’ of a particular task is dependent on the ‘start date’ of its specified predecessor task.
Project Manager Usage Context:
Setting Start-to-Start dependencies is done within a project scheduling application such as MS Project by either the Project Manager of a Project Scheduler.
Start-to-Start is one of the less common task dependencies.
Setting task dependencies is an integral part of working out the planned duration of your project as well as critical to both the sequence order and timing of all project tasks.
Comments / Tips
To avoid any confusion with your project stakeholders, avoid using the term “Start-to-Start” when communicating this sort of dependency.
Rather, lay it out in layman's terms.
E.g. “We need to ensure that Team B starts their system testing as soon as Team A starts.”
There are 4 types of task dependencies - also see :