Course Four: Project Execution: Running the Project Flashcards
Abandoned project
A project in which inadequate handoff or transition on the project deliverables occurs
Acceptance criteria
Pre-established standards or requirements that a product, service, or process must meet
Accessible
Something that is easily used, accessed, or adapted for use by people experiencing disabilities
Adoption metrics
Metrics that indicate whether or not a product, service, or process is accepted and used
Air cover
Support for and protection of a team in the face of out-of-scope requests or criticism from leadership
Analytics
The process of answering business questions, discovering relationships, and predicting outcomes based on the analysis of data
Bad compromise
A situation that occurs when two parties settle on a so-called solution but the end product still suffers
Burndown chart
A line chart that measures the time against the amount of work done and the amount of work remaining; useful for projects that require a granular, broken-down look at each task
Change
Anything that alters or impacts the tasks, structures, or processes within a project
Change log
A record of all notable changes on a project
Character
The qualities or features that make up and distinguish a person, like honesty, integrity, and kindness
Confirmation bias
A type of data bias that refers to the tendency to search for information that confirms preexisting beliefs
Conger’s four steps (EF PC)
Refers to Jay A. Conger’s four-step approach to effectively persuade and influence another person to consider new ideas:
establish credibility, frame for common ground, provide evidence, and connect emotionally
Continuous improvement
An ongoing effort to improve products or services; begins with recognizing when processes and tasks need to be created, eliminated, or improved
Control
An experiment or observation designed to minimize the effects of variables
Cost variance
The difference between actual cost and budgeted cost
Critical user journey
The sequence of steps a user follows to accomplish tasks in a product
Customer satisfaction score:
A metric that indicates how well the project delivered what it set out to do and how well it satisfies customer and stakeholder needs
Dashboard
A type of user interface—typically a graph or summary chart— that provides a snapshot view of a project’s progress or performance
Data
A collection of facts or information; the numbers and feedback available about different aspects of a project
Data analysis
The collection, transformation, and organization of data to draw conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision-making
Data bias:
A type of error that is influenced by one’s inherent beliefs
Data ethics
The well-founded standards of right and wrong that dictate how data is collected, shared, and used
Data privacy
The act of protecting a data subject’s information and activity any time a data transaction occurs
Data visualization
A graphical representation of information to facilitate understanding
Data-driven improvement frameworks
Techniques used to make decisions based on actual data
Dependability:
A quality indicating team members are reliable and complete their work on time
Dependency management
The process of managing interrelated tasks and resources within a project to ensure that the overall project is completed successfully, on time, and on budget
Deviation
Anything that alters the original course of action
Discretionary dependencies
Dependencies that could occur on their own, but the team saw a need to make those dependencies reliant on one another
DMAIC (“duh May see”)
The five steps to take when working toward continuous improvements: define, measure, analyze, improve, and control
Duration
The amount of time it takes to complete or produce something
Edge case
Rare outliers that the original requirements of the project didn’t account for; deals with the extreme maximums and minimums of parameters
Engagement metrics
Metrics that indicate the degree to which a product or service is used—the frequency of use, amount of time spent using it, and the range of use
Escalation
The process of enlisting the help of higher-level project leadership or management to remove an obstacle, clarify or reinforce priorities, and validate next steps
Ethical leadership (HJRCI)
A form of leadership that promotes and values honesty, justice, respect, community, and integrity
Expressiveness
Refers to one’s ability to communicate with others
External dependencies
Asks that are reliant on outside factors, like regulatory agencies or other projects
Feedback survey
A survey in which users provide feedback on features of a product that they like or dislike
Force majeure
An unforeseen circumstance that prevents someone from fulfilling a contract due to a major crisis (ex: Pandemic)
Gantt chart:
A project-tracking visual that is useful for staying on schedule; ideal for projects with many dependencies and larger project teams
Happiness metrics
Metrics that relate to different aspects of the user’s overall satisfaction with a product or service
Headline
The one-sentence main point that illustrates a slide
Impact
The belief that the results of one’s work matter and create change
Impact report
A presentation guided by a deck or slideshow that shows key stakeholders and others the value that’s been added by the project
Inclusive leadership
A form of leadership where everyone’s unique identity, background, and experiences are respected, valued, and integrated into how the team operates
Influencing statement
A conversation opener that sets a person up for success with their audience
Information
An organizational source of power that refers to one’s level of access and control over information
Internal dependencies
The relationship between two tasks within the same project
Interpretation bias
A type of data bias that refers to the tendency to always interpret ambiguous situations as either negative or positive
Issue
A known and real problem that may affect the ability to complete a task
Knowledge
Refers to the power drawn from one’s expertise in certain subjects, unique abilities and skill sets, and ability to learn new things
Line chart
A type of chart that displays information as a series of data point markers; helpful for showing trends and behaviors over set periods of time or overall
Mandatory dependencies
Tasks that are legally or contractually required
Metric
A quantifiable measurement that is used to track and assess a business objective
Milestone
An important point within the project schedule that indicates progress and usually signifies the completion of a deliverable or phase of the project
Never-ending project
A project in which the project deliverables and tasks cannot be completed
Observer bias
A type of data bias that refers to the tendency for different people to observe different things
On-time completion rate
A productivity metric that helps illustrate to clients and stakeholders how the project is progressing and when they can expect certain deliverables to be ready
PDCA
A four-step process that focuses on identifying a problem, fixing the issue, assessing whether the fix was successful, and fine-tuning the final fix; stands for: plan, do, check, and act
Portfolio
A collection of programs and projects across a whole organization
Probability and impact matrix
A tool used to prioritize project risks
Process improvement
The practice of identifying, analyzing, and improving existing processes to enhance performance, meet best practices, or optimize consumer experiences
Productivity metrics
Metrics that track the effectiveness and efficiency of a project, including items like tasks, milestones, projections, and duration
Program
A collection of projects
Project closeout report
A document that describes what the team did, how they did it, and what they delivered; evaluates the quality of work and the project’s performance with respect
to budget and schedule
Project closing
A process performed to formally complete a project, the current phase, and contractual obligations
Project status report
An update that gives an overview of all of a project’s common elements and summarizes them at a given point in time
Project task
An activity that needs to be accomplished within a set period of time
Projection
A prediction of a future outcome—such as future productivity trends, project durations, costs, performance, or quality—based on current information; also called a forecast
Psychological safety
Psychological safety: An individual’s perception of the consequences of taking an interpersonal risk
Qualitative data
Information about subjective qualities that can’t be measured with numerical data
Quality
Refers to when the outlined requirements for the deliverable are fulfilled and meet or exceed the needs and expectations of customers
Quality assurance
A review process that evaluates whether a project is moving towards delivering a high-quality service or product; also called QA
Quality control
Techniques used to ensure quality standards when a problem is identified; also called QC
Quality metrics
Metrics that relate to achieving acceptable outcomes, such as number of changes, issues, and cost variance
Quality planning
The actions of the project manager or team to establish and conduct a process for identifying and determining exactly which standards of quality are relevant to the project as a whole and how to satisfy them
Quality standards
Requirements, specifications, or guidelines that can be used to ensure that materials, products, processes, and services are fit for achieving the desired outcome
Quantitative data
Statistical and numerical facts
RAG status report:
A report that follows a traffic light pattern to indicate progress and status: “red” indicates there are critical issues that need resolution, “amber/yellow’ means that there are potential issues with schedule or budget, and “green” means the that the project is on track
Reputation
Refers to how others perceive a person overall
Retrospective
A meeting in which project teams discuss successes, failures, and possible future improvements on a project
Risk
A potential event that could occur and impact a project
Risk exposure
A way to measure potential future loss resulting from a specific activity or event
Risk management
The process of identifying, evaluating, and addressing potential risks and issues that could impact a project
Risk register
A table or chart that contains a list of risks
Roadmap
A project-tracking visual that is useful for high-level tracking of large milestones
ROAM technique
A strategy used to help manage actions after risks arise; stands for resolved, owned, accepted, and mitigated
ROCCC
An acronym used in data ethics best practices to ensure that data is reliable, original, comprehensive, current, and cited
Sampling bias
A type of data bias in which the sample isn’t representative of the population as the whole
Scope creep
When changes, growth, and other factors affect a project’s scope
Signal
An observable change
Signpost
A way to clue the audience in to where a presentation is going and what to expect
Stacked bar chart
A type of bar chart that can show part-to-whole variables simultaneously; useful when comparing numerical information; also called a Marimekko chart
Test case
A sequence of steps and its expected results
Timeboxing
Refers to setting a time limit
Timeout
Refers to taking a moment away from the project to regroup and adjust the game plan
Trench wars
Conflicts that occur when two peers or groups can’t come to an agreement and neither party is willing to give in
User acceptance test
A trial that helps a business test its users; also called a UAT
User story
An informal, general explanation of a feature written from the perspective of the end user
Work groups
People in an organization who work toward a common goal; based on and assigned by organizational or managerial hierarchy
