1
Q
Project Management
A
The process by which projects are defined, planned, monitored, controlled and delivered such that the agreed benefits are realised.
2
Q
Projects
A
Unique, transient endeavours undertaken to achieve a desired outcome.
3
Q
Business-As-Usual (BAU)
A
Involves repetitive work using established personnel to provide on-going services.
4
Q
BS6079
A
The British standard for project management.
5
Q
Starting Process
A
Ensures that the project is justified and in line with the organisational strategy.
6
Q
Planning Process
A
Takes the requirements and produces a set of plans for implementation.
7
Q
Monitoring and Control Process
A
Used to confirm that progress is being made to meet time, cost and performance objectives.
8
Q
Closing Process
A
Ensures that the project is closed properly and the deliverables produced accepted into the operational environment.
9
Q
Feedback Process
A
Considers the project from beginning to end to enable future projects to benefit from lessons learned.
10
Q
Change Control Process
A
Used to assess the impact of requested changes and a decision made as to whether or not to implement the requested change.
11
Q
Business Case
A
Includes a consideration of the costs and benefits of the project, balanced against the risks.
12
Q
Triangle of Project Expectations
A
The concept that the project manager must balance the required performance against the business’ time, cost and quality expectations.
13
Q
Programmes
A
Deliver significant business change over extensive periods by setting up and coordinating a number of projects.
14
Q
Programme Management
A
The undertaking of the actions needed to establish, manage and coordinate the activities needed to achieve the desired outcome of the strategic change.
15
Q
Portfolio
A
A group of programmes and projects which are being undertaken for an organization.
16
Q
Portfolio Management
A
The objective of making sure that the right programmes and projects are being run to change the business, while also accounting for the need to maintain Business-As-Usual.
17
Q
Benefits
A
The quantifiable and measurable improvement resulting from completion of deliverables that is perceived as positive by a stakeholder.
18
Q
Project Success Criteria
A
The satisfaction of stakeholder needs for the deployment of a project. They are defined at the start (concept phase) and measured at the end (handover and closeout phase).
19
Q
Success Factors
A
Management practices that, when implemented, will increase the likelihood of success of a project.
20
Q
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
A
Defined during the concept phase and measured during the implementation phase. They are used to determine whether or not the success criteria will be met.
21
Q
PESTLE Analysis
A
A way to think of the project context by considering Political, Economical, Sociological, Technological, Legal, and Environmental factors.
22
Q
Stakeholders
A
Any person or group that has a vested interest or “stake” in the project.
23
Q
Stakeholder Analysis
A
A process used to understand our stakeholders and their positions, for example, do they support or oppose the project.
24
Q
Project Lifecycle
A
A structure that assists with the overall planning and control of the project by splitting it into smaller chunks.
25
Concept (Phase)
Begins after the emergence of an idea and concludes with an initial formal statement of a user’s or sponsor’s needs. The main output is the project’s business case.
26
Definition (Phase)
Establishes the technical and financial feasibility of the project. The Project Management Plan will be produced during this phase.
27
Deployment (Phase)
The practical work needed to achieve the desired project outcome.
28
Transition (Phase)
The phase where the products are formally handed over, accepted by the customer and brought into everyday operational use.
29
Adoption (Phase)
An extended lifecycle phase that includes the operations and sustainment required to utilise the new project.
30
Benefits Realization (Phase)
An extended lifecycle phase where reviews will be undertaken to assess the achievement of the required business benefits.
31
Agile Project Management Lifecycle
A lifecycle that is both iterative and incremental, where the solution may be delivered in a series of increments.
32
Hybrid Lifecycle
A project that is primarily linear but uses some iterative elements (like prototyping) or delivers in an incremental manner.
33
Timebox
A well-defined process to control the iterative creation of low-level products. The recommended time span is 2-6 weeks.
34
Structured Timebox (Stages)
A Timebox containing five sessions: Kick-off, Investigation (10-20%), Refinement (60-80%), Consolidation (10-20%), and Close-Out.
35
Daily Stand-up
A key method of communication and control in Agile Project Management.
36
Project Reviews
Checks that take place throughout the project life cycle to check the likely or actual achievement of the objectives and benefits.
37
Gate Reviews
Reviews typically undertaken at the end of a phase where senior management assures themselves that the project is worthwhile.
38
Post-Project Review
An operational review of how well the project was managed. It should be concluded prior to formal closure of the project.
39
Benefits Review
A formal review, typically three to six months after the project has been closed, to determine whether the project has met its stated objectives and realised any benefits.
40
Peer Reviews
An evaluation of work by someone of similar competence which helps to maintain standards of quality.
41
Project Audits
An independent review (internal or external) to provide senior management with assurance that the project is being managed correctly.
42
Business Case
Used to gain funding for the project based upon demonstrating the overall viability of the project and its fit with the corporate strategy.
43
Business Case (Ownership)
The business case is ‘owned’ by the sponsor.
44
Business Case (Authorship)
The project manager normally authors and maintains the business case.
45
Organisational Roles
The roles performed by individuals or groups in a project.
46
Project Sponsor
The individual who is ultimately accountable for the project. They own the business case and give direction to the project manager.
47
Steering Group / Project Board
A group of senior managers (representing users and suppliers) who help the project sponsor.
48
Project Manager
The individual who undertakes the day-to-day management of the project on behalf of the project sponsor.
49
Users
The people who will use the outputs produced by the project in their day to day work.
50
Suppliers
The team members (internal or external) who will produce the project's outputs.
51
Project Office (PMO)
A support structure that assists the project manager and sponsor with administrative functions.
52
Organisational Breakdown Structure (OBS)
The resulting chart produced for the project that clearly defines all of the organisational roles.
53
Product Owner
A common role in Agile (Scrum) who represents the customer view, owns the products, and has the final say about what goes into them.
54
Project Management Plan (PMP)
The reference document for managing the project which brings together all the plans for a project.
55
PMP (Ownership)
The PMP is developed and owned by the project manager and approved by the project sponsor.
56
Deployment Baseline (Linear)
A reference point agreed by the project sponsor at the end of Definition, against which progress is measured.
57
Deployment Baseline (Iterative)
The breadth of scope is determined at the end of definition, but the detail is expected to emerge during deployment.
58
Scope
The sum of work content that needs to be done in order to achieve the project objectives and meet the success criteria.
59
MoSCoW
A prioritization technique denoting Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won’t have (for now) requirements within an agreed timescale.
60
Product Breakdown Structure (PBS)
A diagram that takes the end product of the project and breaks it down into its component parts.
61
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Identifies the tasks needed to produce the products identified in the PBS.
62
Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS)
Used to identify the different types of cost which will be incurred by the project.
63
Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)
Used to allocate work identified in the Work Breakdown Structure to the Organizational Breakdown Structure.
64
RACI
A common type of RAM: Responsible (does the task), Accountable (the one role accountable), Consulted (needs to be consulted), Informed (is kept informed).
65
Scheduling
The process used to determine the overall project duration and when activities and events are planned to happen.
66
Activity Network
The first step in scheduling; a diagram showing activities and their logical dependencies.
67
Total Float
Shows how much an activity can slip without impacting the duration of the project.
68
Critical Path
The route through the activity network where the total float is zero.
69
Gantt Chart
A visual representation of the schedule that shows activities plotted as bars against time.
70
Milestones
Key events where the sponsor is likely to want to be aware of progress. They are also often used to identify points for stage payments.
71
Resource Management
Identifies and assigns resources to activities so that the project is undertaken using appropriate levels of resources and within an acceptable duration.
72
Resource Histogram
A chart used to plot the number of resources needed over time.
73
Time-Constrained Project
A project that must complete at a specified time.
74
Resource-Constrained Project
A project that has a limit as to the number of resources that can be allocated.
75
Resource Levelling
Used for resource-constrained projects to ensure the resource limit is not exceeded, which will likely increase the project duration.
76
Resource Smoothing
Used for time-constrained projects to ensure the required project duration is met, which will likely increase the number of resources required.
77
Estimate
An approximation of project time and cost targets.
78
Estimating Funnel
Represents the increasing levels of estimating accuracy that can be achieved through the phases of the lifecycle.
79
Comparative (Analogous) Estimating
Uses information from previous projects, making adjustments based on things like size and complexity.
80
Parametric Estimating
Used for repetitive type work where parameters can be modified for the particular piece of work.
81
Analytical Estimating
Uses the lowest level of detail in the work breakdown structure to estimate.
82
Project Risk Management
A process that allows individual risk events and overall risk to be understood and managed proactively, optimising success by minimising threats and maximising opportunities.
83
Risk
An uncertain event that can have a negative impact (a threat) or a positive impact (an opportunity).
84
Risk Register
The document where information about risks is entered and maintained.
85
Risk Severity
The overall priority of the risk, which takes account of both the probability and the impact.
86
Risk Responses (Threats)
Avoid (abandon the objective), Transfer (e.g., insurance), Reduce (lessen probability/impact), Accept (take no action but monitor), Contingency (a fallback plan).
87
Risk Responses (Opportunities)
Exploit (make the risk happen), Enhance (improve probability/impact), Share (share the gain), Reject (take no action).
88
Risk Owner
The person identified and appointed for each risk, responsible for ensuring responses are carried out and monitoring the risk.
89
Project Quality Management
A discipline for ensuring that outputs, benefits and the processes by which they are delivered meet stakeholder needs and are fit for purpose.
90
Quality
Broadly defined as fitness for purpose.
91
Quality Planning
Making sure we can deliver products from the project which are fit for purpose.
92
Quality Assurance (QA)
Making sure that processes for quality are in place and being used effectively. It is often an organization-wide responsibility, independent of the project.
93
Quality Control (QC)
Making sure the individual products are fit for purpose.
94
Continual Improvement
Using our experiences (e.g., lessons-learned) to improve the quality we deliver in future projects.
95
Change Control
The process that ensures that all changes made to a project’s baselined scope, time, cost and quality objectives are identified, evaluated, approved, rejected or deferred.
96
Change Control Process (Steps)
A process involving: 1. Request, 2. Review (initial filter), 3. Assessment (impact analysis), 4. Decision (by an approval authority), 5. Implementation.
97
Change Register / Log
A log used to ensure the status of all changes is documented and understood.
98
Issue Management
The process by which concerns that threaten the project objectives and cannot be resolved by the project manager are identified and addressed.
99
Issue
Occurs when the project manager predicts or has exceeded any allocated tolerances (e.g., time or cost) and must escalate to the sponsor.
100
Problem
A concern or something that has happened that the project manager can deal with (i.e., within their tolerances).
101
Issue Log / Register
A document used to log and track the progress of issues.
102
Configuration Management
The administrative activities concerned with the creation, maintenance, controlled change and quality control of the scope of work.
103
Configuration
The totality of inter-related components that make up a product, including documents, specifications, and deliverable components.
104
Configuration Librarian
The person who looks after the configuration management system, baselines items, issues copies for change, and accounts for the status of each item.
105
Information Management
The collection, storage, dissemination, archiving and appropriate destruction of project information.
106
Information Management Plan
Part of the PMP that defines the reporting requirements, including content and frequency, to support decision-making.
107
Progress Report
A report from the project manager to the sponsor, produced on a regular basis (e.g., monthly or fortnightly), to keep them informed of progress.
108
Exception Report
A report produced by the project manager if the project is predicting or has exceeded agreed tolerance levels.
109
Communication
The means by which information or instructions are exchanged.
110
Successful Communication
Occurs when the received meaning is the same as the transmitted meaning.
111
Project Communication Plan
Derived from stakeholder analysis, it lists stakeholders, their information needs, the source, format, and frequency of communication.
112
Procurement
The process by which products and services are acquired from an external provider for incorporation into the project.
113
Teamwork
A group of people working in collaboration or by cooperation towards a common goal.
114
Tuckman's Stages of Team Development
A model describing the developmental phases of a team: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning.
115
Belbin Team Roles
A model identifying nine distinct team roles (e.g., Plant, Shaper, Monitor Evaluator, Specialist); it concludes that successful teams require a balanced mix of roles.
116
Leadership
The ability to establish vision and direction, to influence and align others towards a common purpose, and to empower and inspire people to achieve project success.
117
Action-Centred Leadership (John Adair)
A leadership concept that involves the balancing of three areas: the Task, the Team, and the Individual.
Industrial Project Management
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