Glossary & Flashcards

A set of values and principles for software development that prioritises iterative delivery, collaboration, and responsiveness to change.

The startup used Agile to ship a working MVP in 6 weeks, then iterated based on user feedback rather than building to a fixed spec.

The approved, fixed reference point for project scope, schedule, or cost, against which performance is measured.

After the steering committee signed off the schedule, it became the schedule baseline. All subsequent variances are measured against it.

A document that justifies the investment in a project by articulating the problem, options, recommended solution, expected benefits, costs, and risks.

Before approving the CRM system project, the board required a business case showing 3-year ROI.

The process of defining, planning, measuring, and monitoring the benefits a project is expected to deliver after completion.

Six months post-launch, the PM conducted a benefits review confirming the 30% reduction in processing time had been achieved.

A formal process for reviewing, approving, and documenting changes to agreed project scope, schedule, or cost.

When the client requested a new reporting module, the PM raised a change request that added 3 weeks to the schedule.

The longest sequence of dependent tasks in a project schedule; any delay on the critical path delays the entire project.

Database migration was on the critical path, a 2-day delay pushed the go-live by 2 days.

A performance measurement technique that integrates scope, schedule, and cost data to give an objective view of project health.

With an SPI of 0.85 and CPI of 0.92, the project was behind schedule and slightly over budget at month 4.

The amount of time a task can be delayed without delaying the project end date (total float) or delaying the next task (free float).

The content review task had 5 days of float, so we delayed it to accommodate a team member's absence.

A register that tracks problems that have occurred on a project, their owners, priority, and resolution status.

When the API integration failed in testing, it was logged in the issue log and assigned to the lead developer.

Knowledge gained during a project, what worked, what didn't, and what should be done differently, documented for future reference.

The lessons learned session identified that daily standups would have caught the integration issue 2 weeks earlier.

Projects IN Controlled Environments, a structured, process-based project management framework with 7 principles, 7 themes, and 7 processes.

The public sector client required the project to be managed using PRINCE2, so the PM prepared stage plans and exception reports.

In Scrum, the role responsible for defining and prioritising the product backlog to maximise value delivery.

The Product Owner reprioritised the backlog after user research revealed that the payment feature was more valuable than the dashboard.

A team climate in which members feel safe to speak up, take risks, and admit mistakes without fear of punishment or ridicule.

After the PM thanked a junior team member publicly for flagging a budget error, the team's willingness to raise concerns increased noticeably.

Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed, a matrix assigning roles to tasks to clarify ownership and communication.

The RACI clarified that Marketing was Consulted (not Accountable) for the website copy, preventing a turf war.

A document that records all identified risks, their probability, impact, owner, and agreed response strategy.

The risk register flagged key person dependency as high likelihood/high impact, triggering a knowledge transfer programme.

The uncontrolled expansion of project scope without corresponding adjustments to time, cost, or resources.

Six 'small additions' to the app specification over 8 weeks constituted scope creep that added 4 weeks to the schedule.

In Scrum, a fixed time-box (usually 1–4 weeks) during which a set of backlog items are developed and made potentially shippable.

At the end of Sprint 5, the team demonstrated a working login system to stakeholders and collected feedback.

A document listing all project stakeholders with their interests, influence level, and communication preferences.

The charity's board members were listed in the stakeholder register as high power/high interest, they received monthly updates directly from the PM.

The interdependency between project scope, schedule, and cost, changing one forces trade-offs in at least one other.

When the client asked to add features (scope), the PM explained that either the deadline would move (time) or additional budget was needed (cost).

A hierarchical decomposition of project scope into deliverables and work packages that can be scheduled, costed, and assigned.

The WBS broke the website project into Design, Development, Content, and Testing branches, each subdivided into work packages.