CompTIA Project+ PK0-005 — Comprehensive Terms & Definitions

373 original concept-focused flashcards organized in exam-domain order: 1. Project Management Concepts (191), 2. Project Life Cycle Phases (65), 3. Tools and Documentation (48), 4. Basics of IT and Governance (69). Includes methodology distinctions, roles, change control, risks, scheduling, testing, procurement, lifecycle artifacts, charts, security, cloud models, operational releases, and supporting calculations. Coverage checked against CompTIA PK0-005 objectives v6.0. Supplemental formulas extend core coverage. Study aid, not official exam questions; combine with scenario practice.

1 | Concepts — Project

A temporary effort that creates a unique result, with a defined purpose and start and finish.

1 | Concepts — Operations

Ongoing, repeatable work that sustains the business; a project may deliver a capability to operations.

1 | Concepts — Program

Related projects coordinated together to obtain benefits unavailable from managing each separately.

1 | Concepts — Portfolio

Projects, programs, and other work selected and managed to advance organizational strategy.

1 | Concepts — Waterfall

A predictive approach that plans work upfront and progresses through ordered phases; useful when requirements are stable.

1 | Concepts — Agile

An adaptive approach that delivers value in small increments and uses frequent feedback to adjust plans.

1 | Concepts — Hybrid approach

Combines predictive planning with adaptive delivery where different parts of the work need different controls.

1 | Concepts — Method selection

Consider requirement uncertainty, change tolerance, budget, deadlines, culture, industry constraints, and team availability.

1 | Concepts — Scrum

An Agile framework using Sprints, clear accountabilities, inspection, and adaptation to deliver usable increments.

1 | Concepts — Kanban

A flow-based method that visualizes work and limits work in progress to expose bottlenecks and improve throughput.

1 | Concepts — Work in progress (WIP) limit

A cap on simultaneous work in a workflow stage; helps finish work before starting more.

1 | Concepts — PRINCE2

A project management method emphasizing continued business justification, defined roles, stages, and management by exception.

1 | Concepts — SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework)

A framework for coordinating Agile delivery across multiple teams and broader enterprise planning.

1 | Concepts — XP (Extreme Programming)

An Agile development approach emphasizing technical practices such as pair programming, test-first development, and frequent integration.

1 | Concepts — DevOps

Collaboration and automation connecting development and operations to improve software delivery and reliability.

1 | Concepts — DevSecOps

Integrates security practices into development and operations throughout delivery rather than waiting until the end.

1 | Concepts — SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle)

The activities used to create and maintain software, including requirements, design, building, testing, deployment, and maintenance.

1 | Concepts — Sprint

A fixed-length Scrum event of one month or less in which the team works toward a Sprint Goal.

1 | Concepts — Sprint Goal

The single objective that gives a Sprint coherence and guides tradeoffs during the Sprint.

1 | Concepts — Sprint planning

The team determines why the Sprint is valuable, what can be delivered, and how the work will be done.

1 | Concepts — Daily Scrum

A short daily event for Developers to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt their work plan.

1 | Concepts — Sprint review

The team and stakeholders inspect the increment and discuss what to do next based on feedback.

1 | Concepts — Sprint retrospective

The Scrum team examines how it worked and chooses improvements to quality and effectiveness.

1 | Concepts — Product backlog

An evolving, ordered list of work needed to improve the product; owned and ordered by the Product Owner.

1 | Concepts — Sprint backlog

The Sprint Goal, selected backlog items, and Developers' plan for delivering them.

1 | Concepts — Backlog refinement

Ongoing clarification, splitting, and estimation of backlog items so they are ready for future selection.

1 | Concepts — User story

A brief description of a user need and its value, commonly phrased as who wants what and why.

1 | Concepts — Epic

A large body of related work that is broken into smaller stories or tasks.

1 | Concepts — Story points

A relative estimate of effort, complexity, and uncertainty; points are not a universal conversion to hours.

1 | Concepts — Acceptance criteria

Specific conditions that a deliverable or backlog item must satisfy to be accepted.

1 | Concepts — Definition of Done

A shared quality standard that determines when an increment is complete and usable.

1 | Concepts — Change request

A documented proposal to alter an approved project element; assess its effects before implementing it.

1 | Concepts — Change control sequence

Record the request, review it, assess impacts, obtain the authorized decision, communicate it, update plans, implement, and validate.

1 | Concepts — CCB (Change Control Board)

The authorized group that evaluates and approves, rejects, or defers changes within its decision authority.

1 | Concepts — Change impact assessment

Evaluate effects on scope, schedule, cost, resources, quality, risks, and stakeholders before a change decision.

1 | Concepts — Scope creep

Uncontrolled expansion of work without corresponding approval and adjustments to the project plan.

1 | Concepts — Product change versus project change

A product change alters features or behavior; a project change alters delivery arrangements such as scope, budget, or schedule.

1 | Concepts — New feature during a Sprint

Have the Product Owner evaluate and order it; Developers and Product Owner may negotiate scope while preserving the Sprint Goal.

1 | Concepts — Risk

An uncertain event or condition that could help or harm project objectives if it occurs.

1 | Concepts — Issue

A current problem requiring action; a risk that occurs may become an issue.

1 | Concepts — Known versus unknown risk

Known risks are identified and can have planned responses; unknown risks were not identified in advance.

1 | Concepts — Risk owner

The person accountable for monitoring a risk and ensuring the planned response is carried out.

1 | Concepts — Risk trigger

A warning sign or event that indicates a risk response should begin.

1 | Concepts — Qualitative risk analysis

Prioritizes risks using judgments such as likelihood, impact, urgency, detectability, and connections to other risks.

1 | Concepts — Quantitative risk analysis

Uses numerical data and models to estimate uncertainty's effect on project outcomes.

1 | Concepts — Probability versus impact

Probability is how likely an event is; impact is the size of its effect if it happens.

1 | Concepts — Risk interconnectivity

The way one risk can cause, amplify, or depend on another risk.

1 | Concepts — Risk detectability

How readily warning signs can be recognized before a risk causes its full effect.

1 | Concepts — Monte Carlo simulation

Repeatedly samples uncertain inputs to estimate a range of possible cost or completion outcomes.

1 | Concepts — Scenario analysis

Examines plausible situations and their consequences to prepare decisions and responses.

1 | Concepts — Avoid a threat

Change the plan to remove the threat or protect the objective from its impact.

1 | Concepts — Mitigate a threat

Reduce a threat's probability or impact, such as testing early to reduce failures.

1 | Concepts — Transfer a threat

Shift financial or contractual consequences to a third party, such as insurance; the threat may still occur.

1 | Concepts — Accept a risk

Acknowledge it without proactively changing its likelihood; active acceptance may include a contingency reserve.

1 | Concepts — Exploit an opportunity

Act to make a beneficial uncertain event happen, such as assigning the strongest team to secure a benefit.

1 | Concepts — Enhance an opportunity

Increase the probability or size of a potential benefit.

1 | Concepts — Share an opportunity

Partner with a party best able to help realize the benefit.

1 | Concepts — Contingency plan

A prepared response activated when a specified risk event or trigger occurs.

1 | Concepts — Fallback plan

An alternative response used if the primary risk response does not work.

1 | Concepts — Contingency reserve

Time or money allocated for identified risks and planned uncertainty.

1 | Concepts — Management reserve

Additional provision for unforeseen work within overall scope, controlled through management authorization.

1 | Concepts — Residual risk

Risk that remains after a response is implemented.

1 | Concepts — Secondary risk

A new risk created by implementing a response to another risk.

1 | Concepts — Issue prioritization

Consider severity, urgency, project impact, and organizational reach when deciding what to resolve first.

1 | Concepts — Escalation path

The agreed route for raising a matter when the owner lacks authority or cannot resolve it within thresholds.

1 | Concepts — Workaround

An immediate response to a problem without a previously planned response; document its impact and follow-up.

1 | Concepts — Root cause analysis

Investigates the underlying cause of a problem so action prevents recurrence rather than only treating symptoms.

1 | Concepts — Milestone

A significant checkpoint or achievement, usually represented as zero duration in a schedule.

1 | Concepts — Mandatory dependency

A sequence required by physical reality, law, or the work itself; also called hard logic.

1 | Concepts — Discretionary dependency

A preferred sequence chosen by the team or practice; also called soft logic and may be changed.

1 | Concepts — External dependency

A relationship involving work or events outside the project team's control.

1 | Concepts — Internal dependency

A relationship between activities within the project's control.

1 | Concepts — Finish-to-start (FS)

The successor cannot start until the predecessor finishes; testing follows completion of the build.

1 | Concepts — Start-to-start (SS)

The successor cannot start until the predecessor starts; two activities can then overlap.

1 | Concepts — Finish-to-finish (FF)

The successor cannot finish until the predecessor finishes.

1 | Concepts — Start-to-finish (SF)

The successor cannot finish until the predecessor starts; a replacement service starts before the old service ends.

1 | Concepts — Lead

Allows a successor activity to begin earlier than the normal dependency relationship would permit.

1 | Concepts — Lag

A required delay between linked activities, such as waiting for concrete to cure.

1 | Concepts — Critical path

The longest-duration dependency path through the schedule; it determines the earliest possible project finish.

1 | Concepts — Total float

How long an activity can slip without delaying the project finish; critical activities commonly have zero float.

1 | Concepts — Resource loading

Shows how much work is assigned to each resource over time and helps reveal overallocation.

1 | Concepts — Resource leveling

Adjusts activity dates to resolve resource conflicts; it may extend the finish date or change the critical path.

1 | Concepts — Resource smoothing

Adjusts activities within available float to reduce resource peaks while preserving the finish date.

1 | Concepts — Crashing

Adds resources or cost to shorten duration, usually focusing on critical-path activities.

1 | Concepts — Fast tracking

Overlaps activities originally planned in sequence; can shorten the schedule while increasing rework risk.

1 | Concepts — Analogous estimating

Uses a similar past project's data for a quick estimate; accuracy depends on comparability.

1 | Concepts — Parametric estimating

Uses a measurable rate times quantity, such as cost per device multiplied by device count.

1 | Concepts — Bottom-up estimating

Estimates detailed work packages or tasks and sums them into the overall estimate.

1 | Concepts — Three-point estimate

Uses optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates to represent uncertainty.

1 | Concepts — PERT weighted duration

Expected duration = (optimistic + 4 × most likely + pessimistic) / 6.

1 | Concepts — Forecast

An updated prediction of future results based on current performance and remaining work.

1 | Concepts — Rebaseline

Formally replace an approved comparison baseline after an authorized significant change; do not use it merely to hide poor performance.

1 | Concepts — Quality assurance (QA)

Process-focused prevention: ensure the methods used to produce work are suitable and followed.

1 | Concepts — Quality control (QC)

Deliverable-focused checking: inspect or test actual results to find defects.

1 | Concepts — Verification

Checks whether a result meets specified requirements: was it built correctly?

1 | Concepts — Validation

Checks whether a result meets the intended user need: was the right result built?

1 | Concepts — Quality audit

An independent examination of processes and compliance with agreed standards.

1 | Concepts — Inspection

Examination of a deliverable to determine whether it meets requirements.

1 | Concepts — Unit testing

Tests an individual component or small piece of code in isolation.

1 | Concepts — Smoke testing

A quick check of essential functions to determine whether a build is stable enough for deeper testing.