PMP Glossary

Acceptance Criteria

set of conditions that is required to be met before deliverables are accepted.

Agile suitability assessment

Culture, nature of project, size/skills of team

Earned monetary value formula (EMV)

add all of the %likelihood*values

don’t forget to subtract the cost from the value

E.g. 10M cost with 80% chance of 12M return and 20% chance of 6M return is (80%*(12-10))+(20%(6-10)) = (1.6)+(-0.8) = 0.8EMV

halo effect

candidate’s succesful performance in their current position is not a true indiciator of how they will perform in a new role

expectancy theory

concept that rewards are expected to be given to workers in relation to their performance

opportunity cost

value of the project(s) NOT chosen

e.g. choosing project with $50M profit over one with $45M profit is a $45M opportunity cost

How to deal with volatility

Alternatives analysis & cost reserves

VUCA

volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity

Leading vs lagging indicators

Lagging: measuring KPI’s of what’s happened

Leading: predictive

Cost of change pricinciple

Cost to change/fix/correct goes up in subsequent phases = get the requirements right

Tacit vs explicit knowledge

Tacit: not straightforward e.g. experience

Explicit: can be codified

RFP, RFQ, RFI: bid-doc (Y/N) and use-case

• RFI (not bid) gather market info

• RFP (bid) vendor supplies solution

• RFQ (bid) price is deciding factor

Contract type for projects that are predicative AND adaptive?

Master agreement with adaptive appendix

Contingency vs management reserves

Contingency: risk

Management: scope change

Timebox

Short, fixed period of time for a chunk of work (eg sprint length)

Throughput

(Kanban methodology)

# of items that can be completed in a given time

Estimating: range #’s, what is accuracy, what is precision

Early range: -25/+75%

Later range: -5/+10%

Accuracy: correctness

Precision: degree of exactness (e.g. ~2days instead of sometime this week)

Risk threshold

Acceptable variation of risk within appetite

Eg $2M risk ±10% is $1.8M-$2.2M threat

3 C’s of user story creation

1. Creating card

2. Conversation to explain usage

3. Confirm AC

Agile Manifesto (4)

1) individuals and interactions over processes and tools

2) working software over comprehensive documentation

3) customer collaboration over contract negotiation

4) responding to change over following a plan

Accuracy (quallity)

Within the quality management system, accuracy is an assessment of correctness.

Activity List

A documented tabulation of schedule activities that shows the activity description, activity identifier, and a sufficiently detailed scope of work description so project team members understand what work is to be performed

Actual Cost (AC)

The realized cost incurred for the work performed on an activity during a specific time period.

Affinity Diagram & Affinity Grouping

A diagram that shows large numbers of ideas classified into groups for review and analysis.

A diagram that shows large numbers of ideas classified into groups for review and analysis.

Analogous Estimating

A method for estimating the duration or cost of an activity or a project using historical data from a similar activity or project.

Artifact

A template, document, output, or project deliverable.

Assumption and Constraint Analysis

An assessment that ensures assumptions and constraints are integrated into the project plans and documents, and that there is consistency among them.

Bidder Conference

The meetings with prospective sellers prior to the preparation of a bid or proposal to ensure all prospective vendors have a clear and common understanding of the procurement. Also known as contractor conferences, vendor conferences, or pre-bid conferences.

Budget at Completion (BAC)

The sum of all budgets established for the work to be performed.

Burn Chart

A graphical representation of the work remaining in a timebox or the work completed toward the release of a product or project deliverable.

Business Value.

The net quantifiable benefit derived from a business endeavor that may be tangible, intangible, or both.

Change Management

A comprehensive, cyclic, and structured approach for transitioning individuals, groups, and organizations from a current state to a future state with intended business benefits.

Confirmation Bias

A type of cognitive bias that confirms preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.

Conformance

The degree to which the results meet the set quality requirements.

Continuous Delivery

The practice of delivering feature increments immediately to customers, often through the use of small batches of work and automation technology.

Cost of Quality (COQ)

All costs incurred over the life of the product by investment in preventing nonconformance to requirements, appraisal of the product or service for conformance to requirements, and failure to meet requirements.

Cost Performance Index (CPI)

A measure of the cost efficiency of budgeted resources expressed as the ratio of earned value to actual cost.

Cost Variance (CV)

The amount of budget deficit or surplus at a given point in time, expressed as the difference between the earned value and the actual cost.

Crashing

A method used to shorten the schedule duration for the least incremental cost by adding resources.

Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD)

A chart indicating features completed over time, features in other states of development, and those in the backlog.

Decomposition

A method used for dividing and subdividing the project scope and project deliverables into smaller, more manageable parts.

Definition of Done (DoD)

A checklist of all the criteria required to be met so that a deliverable can be considered ready for customer use.

Earned Value (EV)

The measure of work performed expressed in terms of the budget authorized for that work.

Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF)

Conditions, not under the immediate control of the team, that influence, constrain, or direct the project, program, or portfolio.

Estimate at Completion (EAC)

The expected total cost of completing all work expressed as the sum of the actual cost to date and the estimate to complete.

Estimate to Complete (ETC)

The expected cost to finish all the remaining project work.

Expected Monetary Value (EMV)

The estimated value of an outcome expressed in monetary terms.

Fast Tracking

A schedule compression method in which activities or phases normally done in sequence are performed in parallel for at least a portion of their duration.

Feature

A set of related requirements or functionalities that provides value to an organization

Last Responsible Moment

The concept of deferring a decision to allow the team to consider multiple options until the cost of further delay would exceed the benefit.

Make-or-Buy Analysis

The process of gathering and organizing data about product requirements and analyzing them against available alternatives including the purchase or internal manufacture of the product.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

A concept used to define the scope of the first release of a solution to customers by identifying the fewest number of features or requirements that would deliver value.

— specific measurable relevant achievement

Monte Carlo Simulation

A method of identifying the potential impacts of risk and uncertainty using multiple iterations of a computer model to develop a probability distribution of a range of outcomes that could result from a decision or course of action.

Multipoint Estimating.

A method used to estimate cost or duration by applying an average or weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates when there is uncertainty with the individual activity estimates.

Net Promoter Score®

An index that measures the willingness of customers to recommend an organization’s products or services to others.

Organizational Process Assets (OPA)

Plans, processes, policies, procedures, and knowledge bases that are specific to and used by the performing organization.

Osmotic Communication.

Means of receiving information without direct communication by overhearing and through nonverbal cues.

Parametric Estimating

An estimating method in which an algorithm is used to calculate cost or duration based on historical data and project parameters.

Planned Value (PV)

The authorized budget assigned to scheduled work.

Probabilistic Estimating

A method used to develop a range of estimates along with the associated probabilities within that range

Regression Analysis

An analytical method where a series of input variables are examined in relation to their corresponding output results in order to develop a mathematical or statistical relationship

Relative Estimating

A method for creating estimates that are derived from performing a comparison against a similar body of work, taking effort, complexity, and uncertainty into consideration.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

A grid that shows the project resources assigned to each work package.

e.g. RACI

Risk Transference

A risk response strategy whereby the project team shifts the impact of a threat to a third party, together with ownership of the response.

Schedule Compression

A method used to shorten the schedule duration without reducing the project scope.

(1) crashing (2) fast-tracking

Schedule Performance Index (SPI)

and formula

A measure of schedule efficiency expressed as the ratio of earned value to planned value

EV/PV

Schedule Variance (SV)

A measure of schedule performance expressed as the difference between the earned value and the planned value.

S-Curve

A graph that displays cumulative costs over a specified period of time.

Single-Point Estimating

An estimating method that involves using data to calculate a single value which reflects a best guess estimate

Story Point

A unit used to estimate the relative level of effort needed to implement a user story.

Swarm

A method in which multiple team members focus collectively on resolving a specific problem or task.

Trend Analysis

An analytical method that uses mathematical models to forecast future outcomes based on historical results.

User Story

A brief description of an outcome for a specific user, which is a promise for a conversation to clarify details

Variance at Completion (VAC)

A projection of the amount of budget deficit or surplus, expressed as the difference between the budget at completion and the estimate at completion.

Velocity

A measure of a team’s productivity rate at which the deliverables are produced, validated, and accepted within a predefined interval.

Volatility

The possibility for rapid and unpredictable change.

Wideband Delphi

An estimating method in which subject matter experts go through multiple rounds of producing estimates individually, with a team discussion after each round, until a consensus is achieved.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

A hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.

EPIC → FEATURE → USER STORY → TASK

Feature

A set of related requirements or functionalities that provides value to an organization.

Epic

A large, related body of work intended to hierarchically organize a set of requirements and deliver specific business outcomes.

T-shaped people

Specialists, SME’s

high-performing contributors

M-shaped people

Generalist; more than one specialty

co-location

always best, when possible

Tuckman’s 5 stages

(1) forming (2) storming (3) norming (4) performing (5) adjourning

Vision statement

developed and refined from project charter

A summarized, high-level description about the expectations for a product such as target market, users, major benefits, and what differentiates the product from others in the market

WSJF (acronym and formula)

“weighted shortest job first”

(value+time criticality+risk/opportunity) / duration

“pace-setting” leadership style

set high standards and expect team to keep up with my pace

“directive” leadership style

make all decisions and provide instruction

“participative” leadership style

collaborating with the team to make decision

salience model

grouping stakeholders based on levels of authority, immediate needs, & how appropriate their involvement is.

Impediment vs. Obstacle vs. Blockers

Impediments: slow down or hinder progress

Obstacles: barriers tha can be moved or overcome with effort or strategy

Blockers: events or conditions that cause stoppages in work or further progress

Burnup vs. burndown

Burnup: progress over time

Burndown: outstanding work

Velocity Chart

depicts completion of work over time

Maslow Heirarchy of Needs

pyramid of needs that need met before moving on to the next level

McGregor’s Theory X & Y

Y-people: like to work and don’t need management to hover

X-people: do not like work and require supervision

McClelland’s Human Motivation Theory (3parts)

Achievement, Power, Affiliation

Secondary & residual risks

secondary: new risks from your response to original

residual: still there even after response

“SMART” formula

How to set KPI’s:

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound

“product vision” vs. “product roadmap”

vision is “why” of project

roadmap is “how” of project

Minimum Business Increment (MBI)

smallest work unit that adds value