Gloassay of Terms 201-300

Question 1

A technique used to gain project requirements from current document valuation.

Answer 1

Document Analysis

Question 2

Amount of time needed to complete an activity/task or work package.

Answer 2

Duration

Question 3

Used in a networking diagram, this represents the earliest date that the activity can finish.

Answer 3

Early Finish

Question 4

Used in a networking diagram, this represents the earliest date that the activity can start.

Answer 4

Early Start

Question 5

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

Answer 5

Earned Value (EV)

Question 6

A methodology that combines scope, schedule, and resource measurements to assess project performance and progress.

Answer 6

Earned Value Management (EVM)

Question 7

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.

Answer 7

EEF

Question 8

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.

Answer 8

Effect-Based Risk Classification

Question 9

The number of labor units required to complete a scheduled activity or WBS component, often expressed in hours, days, or weeks.

Answer 9

Effort

Question 10

The actual calendar time required for an activity from start to finish.

Answer 10

Elapsed Time

Question 11

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.

Answer 11

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Question 12

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.

Answer 12

Empathy

Question 13

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.

Answer 13

Empowerment

Question 14

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.

Answer 14

Engagement Roadmap

Question 15

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.

Answer 15

Enhance

Question 16

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.

Answer 16

Epic

Question 17

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.

Answer 17

Escalate

Question 18

A number, figure, or representation that denotes cost or time.

Answer 18

Estimate

Question 19

A planning process that determines the estimate time needed to complete a work package and/or activity.

Answer 19

Estimate Activity Durations Process

Question 20

Part of the Planning Process Group, this process estimates the materials and human resources needed to perform the project activities.

Answer 20

Estimate Activity Resources Process

Question 21

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

Answer 21

Estimate at Completion (EAC)

Question 22

Part of the Planning Process Group, this process determines the financial estimate for each work package and/or activity.

Answer 22

Estimate Costs Process

Question 23

The expected cost of finishing all the remaining project work.

Answer 23

Estimate to Complete (ETC)

Question 24

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.

Answer 24

Executing Process Group

Question 25

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”.

Answer 25

Exit Gate

Question 26

Motivational theory which proposes that the team makes choices based on the expected outcome.

Answer 26

Expectancy Theory

Question 27

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.

Answer 27

Expected Monetary Value (EMV)

Question 28

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.

Answer 28

Expert Judgment

Question 29

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.

Answer 29

Explicit Knowledge

Question 30

A strategy for managing positive risks or opportunities that involves attempting to make sure that the opportunity happens.

Answer 30

Exploit

Question 31

Types of activity dependencies that exist between project activities and non-project activities and can be out of the project’s control.

Answer 31

External Dependency

Question 32

Agile methodology in which iterations last for one week and programmers work in pairs.

Answer 32

Extreme Programming (XP)

Question 33

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.

Answer 33

Facilitated Workshops

Question 34

A skill used to lead or guide an assembled group toward a successful conclusion such as making a decision or finding a solution.

Answer 34

Facilitation

Question 35

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”.

Answer 35

Fast Tracking

Question 36

A group of stories that delivers value to the customer.

Answer 36

Feature

Question 37

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.

Answer 37

Fibonacci Sequence

Question 38

A summary of the project’s information on performance, scope, schedule, quality, cost, and risks.

Answer 38

Final Report

Question 39

A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot finish until a predecessor activity has finished.

Answer 39

Finish-to-Finish (FF)

Question 40

A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has finished.

Answer 40

Finish-to-Start (FS)

Question 41

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.

Answer 41

Firm Fixed Price Contract (FFP)

Question 42

See “Cause and Effect Diagram”.

Answer 42

Fishbone Diagram

Question 43

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.

Answer 43

Fixed Price Contract

Question 44

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.

Answer 44

Fixed Price Incentive Fee (FPIF) contract

Question 45

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.

Answer 45

Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment (FPEPA) contract

Question 46

Also called slack. See “Total Float” and “Free Float”.

Answer 46

Float

Question 47

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.

Answer 47

Focus Groups

Question 48

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”.

Answer 48

Forward Pass

Question 49

The amount of time that a scheduled activity can be delayed without impacting the early start date of any subsequent scheduled activity.

Answer 49

Free Float

Question 50

Supervisory organizational role in a specialized area or department.

Answer 50

Functional Manager

Question 51

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.

Answer 51

Functional Organization

Question 52

In an agile context, an action that the system performs that adds value to the customer/user.

Answer 52

Functionality

Question 53

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.

Answer 53

Funding Limit Reconciliation

Question 54

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.

Answer 54

Gantt Chart

Question 55

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.

Answer 55

Generalizing Specialist

Question 56

Adding more scope than the customer requested and/or that the team planned for.

Answer 56

Gold Plating

Question 57

Team working techniques to move a group towards consensus or decision. Examples are unanimity, majority, plurality, and dictatorship.

Answer 57

Group Decision Techniques

Question 58

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.

Answer 58

Growth Mindset

Question 59

Expectations regarding acceptable behavior by project team members.

Answer 59

Ground Rules

Question 60

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.

Answer 60

Hardening Iteration/Iteration H

Question 61

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.

Answer 61

Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory

Question 62

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.

Answer 62

Histogram

Question 63

Archived information from previous projects that can be used for a multitude of reasons, including estimating cost, schedule, resources, and lessons learned.

Answer 63

Historical Information

Question 64

An estimation technique that refers to the time it would take to complete a given task assuming neither interruptions nor unplanned problems arise

Answer 64

Ideal Time

Question 65

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.

Answer 65

Identify Risks

Question 66

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.

Answer 66

Identify Stakeholders

Question 67

An obstacle that prevents the team from achieving its objectives.

Answer 67

Impediment

Question 68

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.

Answer 68

Implement Risk Response Process

Question 69

A functional, tested, and accepted deliverable that is a subset of the overall project outcome.

Answer 69

Increment

Question 70

Agile concept that the functionality should be delivered in small pieces or stages rather than as a complete solution.

Answer 70

Incremental Delivery

Question 71

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.

Answer 71

Incremental Life Cycle

Question 72

Estimates generated by experts outside the project for the purposes of comparing them with those made by the team.

Answer 72

Independent Estimates

Question 73

A cost usually tracked as part of a contract, that is not expended directly for the project’s benefit.

Answer 73

Indirect Costs

Question 74

Used in quality management decisions. A graphical representation of situations showing causal influences, time ordering of events, and other relationships among variables and outcomes.

Answer 74

Influence Diagram

Question 75

Used in stakeholder management. A classification model that groups stakeholders on the basis of their involvement in and impact on the project.

Answer 75

Influence/Impact Grid

Question 76

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.

Answer 76

Influencing

Question 77

Data that has been analyzed, organized, and processed to make it more meaningful.

Answer 77

Information

Question 78

A system to allow the team to collaborate, share, and capture project work.

Answer 78

Information Management

Question 79

A way to collect, manage, and distribute project information.

Answer 79

Information Management System

Question 80

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.

Answer 80

Information Radiator

Question 81

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.

Answer 81

Initiating Process Group

Question 82

Something needed or used by a process to create the process output.

Answer 82

Input

Question 83

Reviewing the functionality or suitability of a product, service, or result against the plan (requirements/story).

Answer 83

Inspection

Question 84

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.

Answer 84

Insurable Risk

Question 85

In an agile context, this generally refers to face-to-face conversations between members, customers and stakeholders.

Answer 85

Interactions

Question 86

An exchange of information between two or more individuals that ensures common understanding for everyone participating in that exchange.

Answer 86

Interactive Communication

Question 87

A type of activity dependency that exists between project activities and is usually under the project’s control.

Answer 87

Internal Dependency

Question 88

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.

Answer 88

Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

Question 89

Skills used to establish and maintain relationships with other people or stakeholders.

Answer 89

Interpersonal Skills

Question 90

A formal or informal approach to elicit information from stakeholders by talking with them directly.

Answer 90

Interview

Question 91

Acronym describing the desirable attributes of a good story. Stands for: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small and Testable.

Answer 91

INVEST

Question 92

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.

Answer 92

Invitation for Bid (IFB)

Question 93

See “Cause and Effect Diagram”.

Answer 93

Ishikawa Diagram

Question 94

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.

Answer 94

Issue Log

Question 95

A current condition or situation that may have an impact on the project objectives.

Answer 95

Issue

Question 96

A timeboxed cycle of development on a product or deliverable in which all the work needed to deliver value is performed.

Answer 96

Iteration

Question 97

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.

Answer 97

Iteration Backlog

Question 98

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.

Answer 98

Iterative Life Cycle

Question 99

Techniques used to gain knowledge of a specific job role, task, or function to understand and determine project requirements. See “Observations”.

Answer 99

Job Shadowing

Question 100

Specialized workshops that include both SMEs and the development team together to discuss and improve on the software development process.

Answer 100

Joint Application Design (JAD)