1) Core foundations & roles
Getting the who/what/why right sets every project up for success. These terms anchor governance, accountability, and purpose from day one.
Project — a temporary endeavor creating a unique result.
Program — coordinated management of related projects.
Portfolio — projects/programs managed to meet strategic goals.
PMO (Project Management Office) — governs standards, tooling, and support.
Project Charter — formally authorizes a project and the PM.
Business Case — rationale, expected benefits, and costs.
Sponsor — executive accountable for outcomes and funding.
Stakeholder — anyone affected by or able to affect the project.
Project Manager (PM) — leads planning, execution, and control.
Product Owner — owns product vision and backlog priority.
Scrum Master — facilitates Scrum and removes impediments.
Team (Delivery Team) — cross-functional folks doing the work.
Governance — decision rights, oversight, and escalation paths.
Deliverable — a tangible, verifiable work product.
Milestone — zero-duration marker for a key point in time.
Baseline — approved plan used for performance measurement.
RACI — responsibility matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed).
Benefits Realization — tracking that promised value actually lands.
These define who does what, why the project exists, and how decisions get made.
2) Scope, requirements & planning
Clarity on what you’re building (and not building) keeps teams aligned and avoids costly rework.
Scope — boundaries of the project work.
In-scope / Out-of-scope — what’s included vs excluded.
Requirements — capabilities the solution must meet.
Functional / Nonfunctional — what it does vs quality attributes (e.g., security, performance).
User Story — short, user-centric requirement (“As a…, I want…, so that…”).
Acceptance Criteria — conditions that must be true to accept a story.
Definition of Done (DoD) — shared checklist of “complete.”
WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) — hierarchical decomposition of work.
Decomposition — breaking deliverables into work packages/tasks.
Backlog — ordered list of work items.
Product Roadmap — time-phased view of major outcomes.
Assumptions — things believed true without proof.
Constraints — limiting factors (time, budget, tech, compliance).
Dependencies — relationships that affect sequencing.
MVP (Minimum Viable Product) — smallest thing to test value.
Estimation — sizing effort/complexity.
PERT / Three-point — optimistic, most-likely, pessimistic estimating.
T-shirt sizing / Story points — relative sizing techniques.
These terms nail down what you’ll deliver and how big it is before you commit.
3) Scheduling, resources & delivery methods
Turning scope into flow requires smart sequencing, realistic capacity, and the right delivery approach.
Schedule — planned dates for activities and deliverables.
Gantt Chart — bar chart visualization of the schedule.
Network Diagram — visualizes activity precedence.
Critical Path (CPM) — longest path; drives total duration.
Float/Slack — time an activity can slip without moving the end date.
Dependency types — FS, SS, FF, SF (finish/start relationships).
Resource leveling — adjust plan to fit resource limits.
Resource smoothing — even out usage within available float.
Timeboxing — fixed time window to deliver a set of work.
Waterfall — linear, phase-gated delivery.
Agile — iterative, incremental delivery philosophy.
Scrum — Agile framework with defined roles/events/artifacts.
Sprint — timeboxed iteration in Scrum.
Increment — usable product produced each Sprint.
Kanban — flow-based method with visual boards.
WIP limit — cap items in progress to reduce bottlenecks.
Velocity — amount of work completed per Sprint.
Burn-down chart — remaining work over time.
Burn-up chart — work completed vs scope over time.
Lead time — request to delivery duration.
Cycle time — start to finish for a work item.
Hybrid — mixes predictive and adaptive practices.
These concepts control when work happens and how teams deliver predictably.
4) Risk, quality, change, cost & performance
Resilience and results come from managing uncertainty, safeguarding quality, and measuring what matters.
Risk — uncertain event that may affect objectives.
Issue — a realized problem needing action now.
RAID log — Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies in one place.
Risk register — repository of identified risks and responses.
Probability & Impact — likelihood and consequence ratings.
Risk exposure — overall magnitude (often probability × impact).
Risk responses — avoid, mitigate, transfer, accept, exploit (for opportunities).
Quality Assurance (QA) — process-focused prevention.
Quality Control (QC) — product-focused inspection.
Test plan — approach and scope of testing.
UAT (User Acceptance Testing) — end-user validation of fit-for-purpose.
Change Request (CR) — formal proposal to modify a baseline.
Change Control Board (CCB/CAB) — evaluates/approves changes.
Baseline & Variance — approved plan vs actual difference.
Scope creep — uncontrolled expansion of scope.
Gold plating — adding extras not asked for.
Procurement — acquiring external goods/services.
RFP/RFQ — request for proposal/quote to vendors.
SOW — statement of work defining deliverables/terms.
SLA — service level targets/penalties.
Contract types — fixed-price, time & materials, cost-reimbursable.
EVM (Earned Value Management) — integrated cost/schedule performance.
PV / EV / AC — planned value / earned value / actual cost.
SV / CV — schedule variance / cost variance.
SPI / CPI — schedule/cost performance indexes.
EAC / ETC / VAC — estimate at completion / to complete / variance at completion.
KPIs — key performance indicators.
OKRs — objectives with measurable results.
Lessons learned / Retrospective — structured improvement review.
Go-live — production release moment.
Hypercare — short, high-touch post-launch support period.
These tools control risk, keep quality high, manage change with discipline, and quantify performance.
How to use this glossary
Use these terms to write clearer charters, structure backlogs and WBSes, pick delivery methods, and report with confidence using EVM/KPIs. It’s a shared vocabulary that speeds onboarding, improves stakeholder alignment, and helps you pass certs (PMP, PRINCE2, Scrum) while elevating day-to-day execution.
A common language makes projects faster, safer, and easier to steer.
Helpful Links
PMI Lexicon of Project Management Terms: https://www.pmi.org/lexicon
APM (Association for Project Management) Glossary: https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/glossary/
The Scrum Guide (official): https://scrumguides.org/
Agile Alliance Glossary: https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/agile-glossary/
PRINCE2 Official Overview (PeopleCert): https://www.peoplecert.org/browse-certifications/project-programme-and-portfolio-management/prince2