CAPM key terms

A temporary effort undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. It has a defined beginning and end, and it closes when its objectives are achieved or the effort is terminated.

The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities so the project meets its requirements. It coordinates competing demands such as scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk, and stakeholder expectations.

A group of related projects and other work managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits that would not be available if each component were managed separately.

A collection of projects, programs, and other work grouped to support strategic objectives. Components may be unrelated to each other but compete for the same resources and leadership attention.

An organizational unit that standardizes governance and shares resources, methods, tools, and techniques across projects. Its authority may be supportive, controlling, or directive depending on how the organization sets it up.

Any person, group, or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of the project.

Any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service that must be produced to complete a process, phase, or project.

The interdependent balance among scope, schedule, and cost, often with quality included. Adjusting one usually forces changes in the others, so trade-offs must be made deliberately and documented.

A document issued by the sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of a project and gives the project manager authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.

The set of phases a project passes through from initiation to closure. The number, names, and sequence of phases vary with the organization and the type of work being delivered.

Deliberately adapting processes, tools, templates, and governance so they fit the size, risk, and complexity of a particular project rather than applying every process uniformly.

The senior person who funds or champions the project, provides resources and political support, and approves the charter and major changes. The sponsor is accountable for enabling project success.

A hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team. The lowest levels, called work packages, can be estimated, assigned, and controlled.

A schedule technique that identifies the longest sequence of dependent activities through the network. That path determines the shortest possible project duration, so any delay on it delays the project.

A significant point or event in the project with zero duration. It marks completion of a key deliverable or a decision point and is used to track high-level progress.

The approved version of the project schedule, including start and finish dates for activities. It is used to compare actual progress against plan and to measure schedule performance.

The process of reviewing all change requests, approving or rejecting them, and managing changes to deliverables, documents, and the project management plan in a coordinated way.

A technique that combines scope, schedule, and cost measures to assess project performance and forecast future results. It compares the value of work performed against the plan and actual spending.

A document that records identified risks along with their analysis, owners, and planned responses. It is updated throughout the project as risks change or new ones emerge.

Uncontrolled expansion of project scope without corresponding adjustments to time, cost, or resources. It usually results from unmanaged change requests and erodes the approved baseline.

An iterative planning approach in which near-term work is detailed while work further out is planned at a higher level and elaborated as more information becomes available.

Time or money set aside to cover known risks that have been identified and analyzed. It sits within the approved baseline and is typically released by the project manager as needed.

An iterative and incremental approach to delivering products that emphasizes collaboration, customer feedback, and the ability to respond to change rather than following a fixed plan.

A fixed-length iteration, typically one to four weeks, during which a scrum team builds a usable and potentially releasable increment of the product.

The scrum role responsible for maximizing product value by managing and ordering the product backlog, and by making sure the team understands what to build next.

The role that helps the team and organization apply scrum practices, removes impediments, and coaches the team toward self-management. This is a servant-leader role, not a command-and-control manager.

An ordered, evolving list of everything that might be built into the product. The product owner maintains it, and the highest items are refined in detail before entering a sprint.

The set of product backlog items selected for a sprint, together with the team's plan for delivering them. It is owned by the developers and updated as work progresses.

A shared checklist describing what it means for a product increment to be complete. It creates a common quality standard and prevents unfinished work from being counted as delivered.

A measure of how much work a team completes per iteration, usually expressed in story points or backlog items. It supports forecasting only when the definition of done stays consistent.

A flow-based method that visualizes work on a board, limits how much work is in progress, and manages queues to improve throughput. It does not require fixed-length iterations.

A leadership style in which the leader puts the needs and growth of the team first, removes obstacles, and creates conditions that let others do their best work.

The practice of identifying business needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. It covers eliciting requirements, analyzing them, and evaluating whether the solution works.

The process of drawing out requirements from stakeholders and other sources using techniques such as interviews, workshops, observation, surveys, and document analysis.

A statement describing what a solution must do, covering the behaviors, inputs, processing, and outputs it must provide in order to meet stakeholder needs.

A description of how well a solution must perform its functions, covering qualities such as performance, security, usability, reliability, and maintainability.

A table that links each requirement back to its source and forward to design, build, and test artifacts. It helps confirm every requirement is delivered and nothing unapproved slips in.

The conditions a product increment must satisfy to be accepted by the customer or product owner. They are used to judge whether a requirement has actually been met.

A comparison of the current state with the desired future state to identify what is missing. The differences found help justify and shape the recommended solution.

The process of identifying stakeholders, understanding their interests, influence, and attitudes, and planning how to engage each of them appropriately throughout the work.