12 – Must know Project Management Terms for New Beginners

What is the Project Management terms you should know? Like all professions, project management has its own terms to define its tools, actions and actors. The mastery of this vocabulary, but also of what it represents, is essential to guarantee your performance. If you do not speak this “language”, you will be misunderstood and the consequences could be detrimental to your career in project management.

12 – Must know Project Management terms

Discover below the 12 project management terms you need to know.

1. Budget

It is a forecasting statement of all the resources (financial, human and material) allocated to carry out the realization of a project. The budget is an essential tool for project managers who use it for the purpose of steering, forecasting and controlling their projects.

2. Specifications

The specifications are an essential document that gathers the elements necessary for the realization of the project. It describes precisely the expectations and needs of the project sponsor, allows framing the missions of the various factors involved and defines the conditions of the project team.

3. Collaboration

Collaboration is the act of reflecting and working together to achieve a goal (Wikipedia). Collaborative work has grown strongly in recent years, thanks in particular to the development of new technologies. To ensure the smooth running and success of a project, collaboration within the team is essential. Today, its implementation is greatly facilitated by the integration of a common work platform, in particular in the form of collaborative project management software, such as Planzone.

4. Deadline

This is the end date of a task. To succeed in a project and to deliver it on time, it is imperative to respect the deadlines of each task. All maturities are noted in a timetable.

5. Timesheet

In project management, time is a valuable element that needs to be managed accurately. The timesheet is an essential tool for measuring the team’s performance, identifying the time required to complete each task, anticipating delays, and allocating the workload to availability of your employees. You benefit from a better visibility on the different temporal aspects of the project, on the costs and therefore on the profitability of the project.

6. Gantt

The Gantt chart is the indispensable planning tool in project management. It allows you to efficiently plan your project and to quickly visualize the progress of the different tasks to be accomplished. It is an excellent communication tool that improves the organization of work and allows defining a realistic schedule.

Invented by Henry Laurence Gantt in 1910, it has proved itself on projects of very different sizes and dimensions for many years.

7. Performance Indicator

Indispensable to the project manager, an indicator makes it possible to evaluate a situation and to take an appropriate decision. The key performance indicators (or Key Performance Indicators in English) measure your project performance. You choose them jointly with your team. They must be simple, reliable, easily understandable by all and relevant.

8. Project management software

Project management software is a versatile tool to effectively manage your project. Its advantages are numerous for the project manager and his team:

• Monitoring and coordinating the evolution of your projects;
• Follow-up of the progress of tasks on a schedule;
• Meeting deadlines and controlling costs;
• Facilitated collaboration and exchanges between team members;
• Centralization and sharing of work information;
• Online job management;
• Visibility and transparency

9. Goal

A goal is a goal to be achieved by carrying out different tasks. For example, to build a new plant in order to produce more and thus meet the growing demands. It is essential to precisely define the objective (s) to be reached so that you and your team know in which direction you are going. A good goal should be SMART: S pecific, M easurable, an accessible, R ealistic and T emporel.

10. Stakeholder

A stakeholder (or stakeholder in English) is a person, group of persons or organization that impact or may be impacted by the project. It may affect or be affected directly or indirectly, positively or negatively, by one or more aspects of the project. It therefore has interests in the project and has an influence on the decision-making. It is important to be attentive to the expectations and needs of the stakeholders to ensure the success of a project.

11. Planning

This is an essential step for your project. Planning involves defining and scheduling project tasks, estimating their duration and determining the profiles and resources needed to implement them. The Gantt chart is an indispensable planning tool. Be sure to update and adjust the schedule as the project progresses.

12. Risk

In project management, zero risk does not exist. It is very likely that your project is not proceeding as planned and that an uncertain and damaging event occurs and hinders your goals. It is therefore essential to set up risk management in order to anticipate and mitigate the risks that may occur and thus try to reduce their impact on the smooth running of the project. Prepared for the eventuality of a risk, you guarantee as much as possible the success of your project.

Summary

In project management, as in marketing, finance or production, there is a specific vocabulary that must be mastered in order to communicate effectively with all the players involved, to be successful and to lead your projects towards success.