Free PMP Terms and Definitions
Understanding common project management terms can be a challenge for all project managers. To help you understand those terms and definitions Crosswind Project Management has created a free to use glossary to help in your pmp training. In this page you will find the terms and definitions associated within the component areas of framework to get a better understanding of how this process works and relates to project management.
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Design-the-box | An exercise in which team members create a container for the product that articulates the product’s purpose and lists its key features |
| Elevator Statement | The synopsis of a concept, such as the purpose of a project, which can be expressed in thirty seconds or so |
| Epic | A large story, usually undeveloped, that needs to be decomposed into smaller stories |
| Fail Fast (aka Fast Failure) | A strategy that consists of attempting something, obtaining feedback as soon as possible, and then inspecting and adapting rapidly to determine if the attempt represents a good decision; if not, the attempt is immediately aborted so that time and resources are not wasted on its continuance |
| Feature Creep | The continual increase in or unrestrained changes to software functionality |
| Fibonacci Sequence | A series of numbers that begins with 0 and 1, and then is expanded by adding the two previous numbers together: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13… |
| Fixed Duration | An activity where the duration does not change, regardless of the people or resources applied to the activity. |
| Function Point | An estimate of the amount of business functionality in an IT system. It can be used to calculate the functional size of an application. |
| High-level (Gross) Estimates | An estimate based on relative sizing |
| Interdependent Stories | User stories that, considered together, solve a problem |
| INVEST | An acronym that stands for the rules that define a user story (Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, and Testable) |
| Nebulous Units of Time (NUTs) | An alternative term for story points |
| Planning Poker | A game played with cards representing tasks that uses Delphi, a method where each team member estimates the size of a task and after a series of discussions, the team arrives at a consensus for task size estimation |
| Product Analysis | An approach used to convert a business-defined product into project deliverables; typically involves asking business representatives questions about the intended uses and characteristics of the product |
| Product Backlog | An evolving list of customer-prioritized features, bugs, technical work, and knowledge acquisition that have not been completed and are not being worked on during the current iteration |
| Product Box Exercise | A technique to help facilitate product requirements gathering and understanding by building a sample box with name, features, and other relevant details. |
| Product Breakdown Structure | A hierarchical structure that shows a product's components and deliverables. |
| Relative Estimation | Assessing the size and complexity of a story by comparing it to previously assessed stories |
| Spike | A short, timeboxed research effort that is necessary to estimate the size of a specific story, usually a technical story |
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