Glossary

The costs genuinely incurred for the work counted as earned value, up to a given date. Actual cost only means something when it covers the same scope earned value covers.

A failure by one party to perform an obligation the contract requires, whether or not the other party treats it as such at the time.

The volume or duration at which two options cost the same, so that the cheaper of the two changes on either side of it.

The document justifying an investment, evaluating the benefit, cost and risk of alternative options and giving a rationale for the preferred one.

The fixed length of the cycle a team plans, works and reviews in. Its value comes from repeating, not from being short.

The named group holding authority to approve or reject a change request, and the only body that can move an approved change into the baseline.

A payment agreed in advance and released when a piece of work reaches an agreed end state, conditional on the outcome rather than on the contribution made along the way.

Money held inside the cost baseline, or time held inside the schedule baseline, for risks already identified, assessed and priced, and drawn on by the project manager as they occur.

A change request that realigns future work with the plan after performance has already drifted away from it.

The approved, time phased budget a project is measured against, made up of the priced work packages plus their contingency reserve, and excluding management reserve.

Earned value divided by actual cost. Below 1 means the completed work cost more than its budget, above 1 means it cost less.

A stakeholder holding power, legitimacy and urgency at once, whose claim takes priority over every other claim on the work.

The budgeted cost of the work actually completed at a given date. Earned value prices finished work at baseline rates, never at what the work really cost.

Where a stakeholder sits on the scale from unaware to leading, judged on observed behaviour rather than on stated position.

Work organised as a continuous pull with no fixed iteration, controlled instead by a limit on how much may be in progress at once.

How long an activity can slip before it delays the activity that follows it. Measured against the next task, not against the project finish.

The transfer of a delivered output to the people who will run it, understood as a transition period rather than a single date.

The exposure a risk carries before any action has been taken to manage it, scored on the same likelihood and impact scale as the residual score it is compared against.

The list of events that have already occurred and are affecting the work, each with an owner and a resolution date. Likelihood no longer applies.

One turn of a team's working cycle, fixed in length, ending in something that could in principle be delivered.

A comparison of the whole life cost and the wider consequences of producing something in house against acquiring it from the market.

Money held above the cost baseline for exposure nobody identified during planning, released by the sponsor or the funding body and never by the project manager.

Structured work establishing the gap between an organisation's current state and the state it requires, in evidence, before any solution is named.

A clause setting out how, to whom and by when a party must formally communicate something for it to count. Missing the deadline can forfeit the entitlement.

Acknowledgement of a contribution given by colleagues rather than awarded down a management line, usually through nomination or an open thank you.

The budgeted cost of the work the baseline scheduled to be complete by a given date. Planned value = budget at completion × planned percent complete.

The formal end of a piece of work, whether because it finished or because it was stopped early. In iterative delivery it is a decision rather than an arrival.

An organisational structure that supports project, programme or portfolio work, ranging from an advisory office to one that runs the projects itself.

A single register holding risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies, and usually decisions, with the type recorded on every line.

The exposure remaining once the planned response has been applied, scored on the same scale as the inherent assessment so the two can be subtracted.

The list of events that could affect the work but have not yet, each scored for likelihood and impact, with an owner and a planned response.

A stakeholder classification that sorts claims by three attributes, power, legitimacy and urgency, producing seven classes plus the nonstakeholder.

Earned value divided by planned value. Below 1 means less work is complete than the baseline scheduled by that date, above 1 means more.

Recomputing an outcome while one input at a time moves across its plausible range, with every other input held at its base value, to rank what drives the result.

Identifying who holds a claim on a piece of work and classifying those claims, so that attention is allocated deliberately rather than by whoever shouts loudest.

The actions, owners and dates for moving named stakeholders from their current engagement level to the level the work requires.

The written output of a needs assessment: the gap an organisation has to close, described with no product, technology or supplier named in it.

The number of work items completed per unit of time, counted where work leaves the system rather than where it is started.

A horizontal bar chart ranking variables by how far each one moves an outcome, widest bar at the top. The narrowing stack of bars is what gives the chart its name.

The full cost of a thing across its life, covering acquisition, running, change, support and eventual retirement, rather than the purchase price alone.

How long an activity can slip before it delays the project end date. Zero total float means the activity is on the critical path.

A cap on how many items may be in progress at once, which forces work to be finished before anything new is started.