Gloassay of Terms 201-300 Flashcards
A technique used to gain project requirements from current document valuation.
Document Analysis
Amount of time needed to complete an activity/task or work package.
Duration
Used in a networking diagram, this represents the earliest date that the activity can finish.
Early Finish
Used in a networking diagram, this represents the earliest date that the activity can start.
Early Start
A measure of work performed expressed in terms of the budget authorized for that work.
Earned Value (EV)
A methodology that combines scope, schedule, and resource measurements to assess project performance and progress.
Earned Value Management (EVM)
Any or all environmental factors either internal or external to the project that can influence the project’s success. Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs) include culture, weather conditions, government regulations, political situation, market conditions, and so on.
EEF
A way of analyzing the major risks inherent to a project that could have an impact on its success. These major risks include time, cost, quality, and scope.
Effect-Based Risk Classification
The number of labor units required to complete a scheduled activity or WBS component, often expressed in hours, days, or weeks.
Effort
The actual calendar time required for an activity from start to finish.
Elapsed Time
The ability to identify, assess, and manage the personal emotions of oneself and other people, as well as the collective emotions of groups of people. EQ (emotional quotient) is also a commonly used abbreviation.
Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Part of emotional intelligence (EQ or EI). The ability to understand others’ viewpoints and be a team player. It enables us to connect with others and understand what moves them.
Empathy
An essential attribute of agile teams to enable localized decision-making capabilities. The quality of granting or being granted, nurturing, or motivating a team member or team to exercise one’s own knowledge, skill, and ability—or that of a team.
Empowerment
Another name for “stakeholder engagement roadmap” - a guideline based on the stakeholder analysis that sets forth processes for engaging with stakeholders at current and all future states of the project.
Engagement Roadmap
A strategy for managing positive risks or opportunities that involves increasing the probability that the opportunity will happen, or the impact it will have by identifying and maximizing enablers of these opportunities.
Enhance
A block of work with one common objective, such as a feature, customer request or business requirement. A helpful way to organize work and create a hierarchy, epic helps teams break their work down, while continuing to work towards a bigger goal.
Epic
The act of seeking helpful intervention in response to a threat that is outside the scope of the project or beyond the project manager’s authority.
Escalate
A number, figure, or representation that denotes cost or time.
Estimate
A planning process that determines the estimate time needed to complete a work package and/or activity.
Estimate Activity Durations Process
Part of the Planning Process Group, this process estimates the materials and human resources needed to perform the project activities.
Estimate Activity Resources Process
The expected total cost of completing all work expressed as the sum of the actual cost to date and the estimate to complete.
Estimate at Completion (EAC)
Part of the Planning Process Group, this process determines the financial estimate for each work package and/or activity.
Estimate Costs Process
The expected cost of finishing all the remaining project work.
Estimate to Complete (ETC)
One of the five Project Management Process Groups. It consists of those processes performed to complete the work defined in the project management plan to satisfy the project requirements.
Executing Process Group
Logical point at the end of a project phase at which an independent party and/or relevant stakeholders reviews that phase’s deliverables to determine whether or not they were completed successfully, and the subsequent project phase should be initiated. Used in predictive or traditional projects. See also “Kill Point”.
Exit Gate
Motivational theory which proposes that the team makes choices based on the expected outcome.
Expectancy Theory
A quantitative method of calculating the average outcome when the future is uncertain. The calculation of EMV is a component of decision tree analysis. Opportunities will have positive values and threats will have negative values.
Expected Monetary Value (EMV)
Judgment provided based upon expertise in an application area, knowledge area, discipline, industry, etc., as appropriate for the activity being performed. Such expertise may be provided by any group or person with specialized education, knowledge, skill, experience, or training.
Expert Judgment
Knowledge that can be codified using symbols such as words, numbers, and pictures. This type of knowledge can be easily documented and shared with others.
Explicit Knowledge
A strategy for managing positive risks or opportunities that involves attempting to make sure that the opportunity happens.
Exploit
Types of activity dependencies that exist between project activities and non-project activities and can be out of the project’s control.
External Dependency
Agile methodology in which iterations last for one week and programmers work in pairs.
Extreme Programming (XP)
Organized working sessions held by project managers to determine a project’s requirements and to get all stakeholders together to agree on the project’s outcomes.
Facilitated Workshops
A skill used to lead or guide an assembled group toward a successful conclusion such as making a decision or finding a solution.
Facilitation
A schedule compression technique in which activities or phases normally done in sequence are performed in parallel for at least a portion of their duration. See also “Crashing”.
Fast Tracking
A group of stories that delivers value to the customer.
Feature
A mathematical sequence in which the value of each number is derived from the sum of the two preceding numbers. Used in agile estimating or relative estimating techniques, such as planning poker. 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144… Simplified sequence: 0,1,2,35,8,13,20,40,100.
Fibonacci Sequence
A summary of the project’s information on performance, scope, schedule, quality, cost, and risks.
Final Report
A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot finish until a predecessor activity has finished.
Finish-to-Finish (FF)
A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has finished.
Finish-to-Start (FS)
A type of fixed price contract in which the buyer pays the seller a set amount (as defined by the contract), regardless of the seller’s costs.
Firm Fixed Price Contract (FFP)
See “Cause and Effect Diagram”.
Fishbone Diagram
An agreement that sets the fee that will be paid for a defined scope of work regardless of the cost or effort to deliver it.
Fixed Price Contract
A type of contract in which the buyer pays the seller a set amount (as defined by the contract), and the seller can earn an additional amount if the seller meets defined performance criteria.
Fixed Price Incentive Fee (FPIF) contract
A fixed-price contract, but with a special provision allowing for pre-defined final adjustments to the contract price due to changed conditions, such as inflation changes, or cost increases (or decreases) for specific commodities.
Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment (FPEPA) contract
Also called slack. See “Total Float” and “Free Float”.
Float
An elicitation technique that brings together pre-qualified stakeholders and subject matter experts to learn about their expectations and attitudes about a proposed product, service, or result.
Focus Groups
Technique for calculating the early start and early finish dates of the schedule activities. This is part of the critical path method and is paired with backward pass to determine activity and schedule float along with the critical path. See also “Backward Pass”.
Forward Pass
The amount of time that a scheduled activity can be delayed without impacting the early start date of any subsequent scheduled activity.
Free Float
Supervisory organizational role in a specialized area or department.
Functional Manager
An organizational structure in which staff is grouped by areas of specialization and the project manager has limited authority to assign work and apply resources.
Functional Organization
In an agile context, an action that the system performs that adds value to the customer/user.
Functionality
The process of comparing the planned expenditure of project funds against any limits on the commitment of funds for the project to identify any variances between the funding limits and the planned expenditures.
Funding Limit Reconciliation
A bar chart of schedule information on which activities are listed on the vertical axis, dates are shown on the horizontal axis, and the activity durations are shown as horizontal bars placed according to start and finish dates.
Gantt Chart
Refers to a project team member who has a particular area of deep expertise but also has experience in many other areas that may not be directly related to their core area. These team member types are valued on agile projects because of their ability to be interchangeable.
Generalizing Specialist
Adding more scope than the customer requested and/or that the team planned for.
Gold Plating
Team working techniques to move a group towards consensus or decision. Examples are unanimity, majority, plurality, and dictatorship.
Group Decision Techniques
A growth mindset, as conceived by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck and colleagues, is the belief that a person’s capacities and talents can be improved over time.
Growth Mindset
Expectations regarding acceptable behavior by project team members.
Ground Rules
Specialized increment/iteration/sprint dedicated to stabilizing the code base so that it is robust enough for release. No new functionality is added. Primarily used for refactoring and/or technical debt.
Hardening Iteration/Iteration H
In 1959, behavioral scientist Frederick Herzberg proposed that ‘hygiene’ or environmental factors can cause workers to feel satisfied or unsatisfied with their job and this factor affects their performance. The theory also proposes that a worker’s independent drive associated with motivation also affects performance and that workers respond to feelings of connection with their work. Therefore, leaders should encourage workers to accept more authority as well as promote feedback. Also known as Two Factor Theory, Herzberg’s Motivation Theory, and The Dual Structure Theory.
Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory
A bar or column chart that graphically represents numerical data—for example, the number of defects per deliverable, a ranking of the cause of defects, the number of times each process is noncompliant, or other representations of project or product defects.
Histogram
Archived information from previous projects that can be used for a multitude of reasons, including estimating cost, schedule, resources, and lessons learned.
Historical Information
An estimation technique that refers to the time it would take to complete a given task assuming neither interruptions nor unplanned problems arise
Ideal Time
Performed throughout the project, this is the process of identifying individual project risks as well as sources of overall project risk and documenting their characteristics. The key benefit of this process is the documentation of existing individual project risks and the sources of overall project risk. It also brings together information so the project team can respond appropriately to identified risks.
Identify Risks
Performed periodically, throughout the project as needed, this is the process of identifying project stakeholders regularly and analyzing and documenting relevant information regarding their interests, involvement, interdependencies, influence, and potential impact on project success. The key benefit of this process is that it enables the project team to identify the appropriate focus for engagement of each stakeholder or group of stakeholders.
Identify Stakeholders
An obstacle that prevents the team from achieving its objectives.
Impediment
A part of the Executing Process Group, this is the process of implementing agreed-upon risk response plans. The key benefit of this process is that it ensures that agreed-upon risk responses are executed as planned to address overall project risk exposure, minimize individual project threats, and maximize individual project opportunities. This process is performed throughout the project.
Implement Risk Response Process
A functional, tested, and accepted deliverable that is a subset of the overall project outcome.
Increment
Agile concept that the functionality should be delivered in small pieces or stages rather than as a complete solution.
Incremental Delivery
An adaptive project life cycle in which the deliverable is produced through a series of iterations that successively add functionality within a predetermined time frame. The deliverable contains the necessary and sufficient capability to be considered complete only after the final iteration.
Incremental Life Cycle
Estimates generated by experts outside the project for the purposes of comparing them with those made by the team.
Independent Estimates
A cost usually tracked as part of a contract, that is not expended directly for the project’s benefit.
Indirect Costs
Used in quality management decisions. A graphical representation of situations showing causal influences, time ordering of events, and other relationships among variables and outcomes.
Influence Diagram
Used in stakeholder management. A classification model that groups stakeholders on the basis of their involvement in and impact on the project.
Influence/Impact Grid
The act of presenting a good case to explain why an idea, decision, or problem should be handled a certain way, without resistance from other individuals.
Influencing
Data that has been analyzed, organized, and processed to make it more meaningful.
Information
A system to allow the team to collaborate, share, and capture project work.
Information Management
A way to collect, manage, and distribute project information.
Information Management System
The generic term for visual displays placed in a visible location so everyone can quickly see the latest information. Also known as “Big Visible Chart” in agile.
Information Radiator
One of the five Project Management Process Groups. It includes the process(es) performed to define a new project or a new phase of an existing project by obtaining authorization to start the project or phase.
Initiating Process Group
Something needed or used by a process to create the process output.
Input
Reviewing the functionality or suitability of a product, service, or result against the plan (requirements/story).
Inspection
A risk that has only the potential for loss and no potential for profit or gain. An insurable risk is one for which insurance may be purchased to reduce or offset the possible loss. Types of insurable risks are direct property, indirect property, liability, and personnel related.
Insurable Risk
In an agile context, this generally refers to face-to-face conversations between members, customers and stakeholders.
Interactions
An exchange of information between two or more individuals that ensures common understanding for everyone participating in that exchange.
Interactive Communication
A type of activity dependency that exists between project activities and is usually under the project’s control.
Internal Dependency
The interest rate that makes the net present value of all cash flow equal to zero. This rate is a function of the cost of capital for project implementation.
Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Skills used to establish and maintain relationships with other people or stakeholders.
Interpersonal Skills
A formal or informal approach to elicit information from stakeholders by talking with them directly.
Interview
Acronym describing the desirable attributes of a good story. Stands for: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small and Testable.
INVEST
A type of procurement document most commonly used when deliverables are commodities for which there are clear specifications and when quantities are very large. The invitation is usually advertised, and any seller may submit a bid. Negotiation is typically not anticipated. These are sometimes used interchangeably with RFPs. Generally, this term is equivalent to RFP. However, in some application areas, it may be a narrower or more specific meaning.
Invitation for Bid (IFB)
See “Cause and Effect Diagram”.
Ishikawa Diagram
An issue is a current condition or situation that may have an impact on the project objectives. An issue log is used to record and monitor information on active issues. Issues are assigned to a responsible party for follow up and resolution.
Issue Log
A current condition or situation that may have an impact on the project objectives.
Issue
A timeboxed cycle of development on a product or deliverable in which all the work needed to deliver value is performed.
Iteration
The work that is committed to be performed during a given iteration and is expected to burn down the duration. The work does not carry over to the next iteration.
Iteration Backlog
A project life cycle in which the project scope is generally determined early in the project life cycle, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified as the project team’s understanding of the product/service increases. Iterations progressively develop the product/service through a series of repeated cycles, while increments successively add to the functionality of the product/service.
Iterative Life Cycle
Techniques used to gain knowledge of a specific job role, task, or function to understand and determine project requirements. See “Observations”.
Job Shadowing
Specialized workshops that include both SMEs and the development team together to discuss and improve on the software development process.
Joint Application Design (JAD)
