Project management is the application of strategies, skills, and tools to achieve a specific goal.
Every project starts as an idea that needs to be planned, organised, executed, managed, tracked, completed, and measured. A project manager will oversee all these aspects.
Knowing the terms project managers use can help you in an acronym-heavy board room banter.

Project Management Terms

<ul><li>Procurement. Obtaining goods, services, or supplies.</li><li>Project constraints. Any factors that can limit a project’s success.</li><li>Project life cycle. The stages that a project goes through.</li><li>Project management software. Software used for all aspects of project management.</li><li>Project manager. The person in charge of all aspects of a project.</li><li>Project plan. An approved document created before a project is executed.</li><li>Quality control. A standardised way to ensure the quality expectations are met.</li></ul>

Project Management Terms (P - Q)

<ul><li>RACI Chart (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed). A way to assign roles and responsibilities.</li><li>Reporting. A visual way to check in on the status, progress, or results of a project.</li><li>Resource allocation. Assigning the best available resources to a particular project.</li><li>Resources. Anything necessary to complete a project or task.</li><li>Risk management. Identifying and managing risks that could impact a project.</li><li>Risk mitigation. A strategy where the probability of risk is minimised by taking certain precautions.</li><li>Risk owner. The person responsible for risk management and mitigation.</li></ul>

Project Management Terms (R)

<ul><li>Case study. Research-based studies that dive into use-cases and various approaches to project management.</li><li>Change management. How to manage and control changes within a project or team.</li><li>Contingency plan. A detailed emergency backup plan for how to effectively manage any problems.</li><li>Critical path method (CPM). A modelling technique for scheduling out a project step-by-step, considering how long each task will take.</li><li>Dashboards. Digital tools that are a centralised hub of organised information.</li><li>Deliverables. Outputs delivered throughout or at the end of a project.</li></ul>

Project Management Terms (C - D)

<ul><li>Scope. An outline of the boundaries of all aspects of a project.</li><li>Scope creep. The scope of a project expands uncontrollably.</li><li>Scrum. A method of working in quick, short sprints.</li><li>Slack (or float). The maximum amount of time a task can be delayed until it affects a project timeline.</li><li>Sprint. A predetermined amount of time to complete one task.</li><li>Stakeholders. Individuals, teams, or organisations impacted by a project outcome.</li><li>Status report. A Summary of a project’s progress to date.</li><li>SWOT analysis. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of a project.</li></ul>

Project Management Terms (S)

<ul><li>Task management. Managing all aspects of tasks within a project.</li><li>Timeline. A breakdown of all tasks and activities within a particular project organised in chronological order.</li><li>Use case. All the ways an end-user could use a product or service.</li><li>Waterfall. A method for working sequentially through clearly established project phases.</li><li>Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Organised breakdown of a project into hierarchical sections and the tasks within each. </li><li>Work In Progress (WIP). A pre-approved work, labour, materials, and other project expenses that has yet to be invoiced.</li></ul>

Project Management Terms (T - W)

<ul><li>Agile. A method of working quickly to adapt to rapid changes.</li><li>Backlog. A complete list of tasks that make up a whole project scope.</li><li>Baseline. An original plan or estimate for a project's timeline, budget, scope and goals.</li><li>Blocker. A block that slows the way forward, such as technology complications or budget constraints.</li><li>Bottleneck. A narrow or constricted flow, pace, and capacity of a project.</li><li>Brainstorming. A tool for creative ideation and solutions.</li><li>Budget. The estimated total cost to complete a project.</li></ul>

Project Management Terms (A - B)

<ul><li>Earned Value Management (EVM). A way to measure a project’s performance and progress.</li><li>Fast tracking. A way to speed up a project’s progress.</li><li>Gantt chart. A bar graph for scheduling project tasks where activities are measured against time.</li><li>Issue management. A way to see and resolve issues.</li><li>Kickoff meeting. The first meeting with stakeholders and team members at the beginning of a project.</li><li>Meeting minutes. Notes taken during a meeting.</li><li>Milestone. Key points throughout a project's timeline used as markers.</li><li>Mission critical. A critical factor to the success of a project or an organisation's success.</li></ul>

Project Management Terms (E - M)

You already walk the walk of a project manager, but you need to talk the talk. Consider this your go-to guide of project management terms. 