Course Two: Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project Flashcards
Adoption
Refers to how the customer uses and adapts a product or service without any issues
Asana
A work management platform that helps teams plan and coordinate their work; useful for building project plans, assigning tasks, automating workflows, tracking progress, and communicating with stakeholders
Benchmark
A point of reference
Benefits
Expected gains of a project
Budget
An estimate of the amount of money a project will cost to complete
Business case
The reason for initiating a project
Collaboration tools
Tools used to quickly and efficiently check in with team members on questions, comments, and other topics related to a project
Cost-benefit analysis
The process of adding up the expected value of a project—the benefits—and comparing them to the dollar costs
Customers
The people who will get some value from a successfully-landed project
Data validation
A feature that adds dropdown lists to cells in a spreadsheet
Deliverable
A tangible outcome from a project; what gets produced or presented at the end of a task, event, or process
Engagement
Refers to how often or meaningful customer interaction and participation is over time
Function
A feature that generates formulas which can be used to manipulate data and perform calculations in a spreadsheet
Gantt chart
A horizontal bar chart that illustrates a project’s tasks, with clear breakdowns of who’s responsible for the work and when those tasks are due
Influence
Measures how much power a stakeholder has and how much the stakeholder’s actions affect the project outcome
Initiation
The first phase within the project life cycle, followed by planning, executing, and closing
In-scope
Tasks that are included in the project plan and contribute to the project’s goal
Intangible benefits
Gains that are not measurable or quantifiable, such as customer or employee satisfaction or brand recognition
Intangible costs
A cost that cannot easily be quantified, such as loss of employee morale or brand damage.
Interest
Refers to how much the needs of the stakeholder will be affected by project outcomes
Key results
The part of an OKR that describes measurable outcomes that objectively define when the objective has been met
Key stakeholders
The people with the highest amount of influence on and interest in a project; also called “key players”
Land (vs. Launch)
To measure the success of a project using the success criteria established at the outset of the project
Launch (vs. Land)
To deliver the final result of a project to the client or user
Materials
Items needed to help get the project done
Objective
The part of an OKR that defines what needs to be achieved and describes a
desired outcome
Objectives and key results (OKRs)
A combination of a goal and a metric to determine a measurable outcome
Out-of-scope
Tasks that are not included in the project plan and don’t contribute to the project’s goal
Pivot table
A basic analysis tool used to summarize data and show the relationships between data points, making it easier to understand the information contained in a spreadsheet
Power grid
A two-by-two grid used for conducting a stakeholder analysis; shows stakeholder interest in the project versus their influence over the project
Primary stakeholders
People who will benefit directly from a project’s success
Productivity tools
Tools used to manage project tasks, including word processing software, spreadsheets, and presentations
Project charter
A document that clearly defines the key details of a project
Project Goal
The desired outcome of a project
Project proposal
Documentation written at the beginning of a project; kicks off the initiation phase by influencing and persuading the company to move forward with the project
Project sponsor
The person who’s accountable for the project and who ensures the project delivers the agreed-upon business benefits
RACI chart
A visual that helps to define roles and responsibilities for individuals or teams to ensure work gets done efficiently; lists who is “responsible,” “accountable,” “consulted,” and “informed” for project tasks
Return on investment (ROI)
A metric used to calculate the return on an investment relative to its cost.
Resources
The budget, people, materials, and other items needed for a project
Scheduling and work management software
Tools used for assigning tasks to multiple teammates and for tracking and visualizing progress; most useful for bigger projects with a larger number of tasks and a bigger team of people to manage
Scope
The boundaries of a project; an agreed-upon understanding as to what is included or excluded from a project
Scope Creep
Changes, growth, and uncontrolled factors that affect a project’s scope at any point after the project begins
Scope management
Understanding and negotiating how changes will be evaluated, accepted, and performed
Silo
A situation in which the knowledge and responsibility for a task falls on one person
Secondary stakeholders
People who are indirectly impacted by a project’s success
SMART goals
A method to evaluate goals; states that goals should be “specific,” “measurable,” “attainable,” “relevant,” and “time-bound”
Stakes
The important parts of a business, situation, or project that might be at risk if something goes wrong
Stakeholder analysis
Anyone involved in the project who has a vested interest in the project’s success
Stakeholder buy-in
The process of involving stakeholders in decision-making to hopefully reach a broader consensus on the organization’s future
Steering committee
The most senior decision-making body on any project; they have the authority to make changes to the budget and approve updates to the timeline or scope
Success criteria
The standards that measure how successful a project was in reaching its goals
Triple constraint
The combination of the three most significant restrictions of any project: scope, time, and cost
