Glossary List

Official Definition (Agile):
The conditions a user story must meet to be considered complete and accepted by the product owner.

Layman’s Definition:
Acceptance criteria in Agile are the rules each task (or “user story”) must follow to count as “done.”

Official Definition (PRINCE2):
A prioritised list of criteria that a project’s product must meet to be accepted by the customer.

Layman’s Definition:
These are the big-picture success rules — what must be true for the entire project to be accepted

Official Definition:
A statement accepted as true without proof for planning purposes, which may later be tested or changed.

Layman’s Definition:
Assumptions are things you believe to be true but haven’t yet proven — you build plans around them.

Official Definition:
A measurable improvement resulting from an outcome perceived as an advantage by one or more stakeholders, which contributes to organisational objectives.

Layman’s Definition:
A measurable, good result or gain from doing the project — like saving time, making money, or making customers happier.

Official Definition:
The justification for the project, typically comparing the benefits against the cost, time and risk of doing the project.

Layman’s Definition:
The Business Case is the ‘why’ behind the project. It shows that the benefits outweigh the costs, time, and risks — and explains why the project is worth doing. It’s used to get approval and keep checking if the project still makes sense as it moves forward.

Official Definition:
A formal procedure to identify, assess and control changes to the project scope and constraints, so they are captured, assessed and either approved, rejected or deferred.

Layman’s Definition:
Change Control is how you manage changes in a project. It makes sure nothing changes by accident and every change is properly considered. It prevents confusion and keeps the project aligned with expectations.

Official Definition:
A management discipline designed to manage and lead the people in the business to change their actions, attitudes and behaviours to incorporate the new Deliverables into their working practises.

Layman’s Definition:
Change Management helps people adapt to new ways of working introduced by the project’s Deliverables. It’s about training, communication and support to make sure the change actually sticks.

Official Definition:
The person or group who is the main recipient of the project’s Deliverables. They may also be called the Sponsor, the Business, or Commissioning organisation.

Layman’s Definition:
The Client is the person or team the project is being done for — the one who will use the results and benefits. They may also be funding it or have a big say in its direction.

Official Definition:
A record describing a single product or item under configuration management, including status, version, and relationships.

Layman’s Definition:
It’s like a detailed tag or ID card for an important project item—such as a document, tool, or product—so everyone knows exactly what it is, where it fits, and if it changes. It helps the team keep track of key components and avoid confusion.

Official Definition:
The recording and updating of information about a project’s Deliverables, such as version number, storage location, and who has access.

Layman’s Definition:
Configuration Management keeps track of all the project’s stuff – what version it’s at, where it’s saved, and who can edit it. It’s like a filing system that helps avoid confusion.

Official Definition:
A limitation that the project must work within (e.g., fixed deadline, budget or resources).

Layman’s Definition:
Constraints are the “must not cross” lines for the project — things like deadlines, budgets or rules that can’t be broken.

Official Definition:
A plan or resource held in reserve in case something goes wrong. It can be time, money, scope, or a workaround plan.

Layman’s Definition:
Contingency is the backup — extra time, money, or ability to decrease scope, or alternative plans set aside in case things don’t go to plan.

Official Definition:
An action taken to bring the project back within agreed tolerances and constraints.

Layman’s Definition:
If the project starts to drift off track, Corrective Action is how you fix it — before it becomes a bigger issue.

Official Definition:
The project’s cost target. The Project Plan should indicate how much money all the project work will cost. This will prove that the plan is achievable within the project’s cost target.

Layman’s Definition:
Cost is how much the project is expected to spend. It’s tracked and controlled to make sure the project doesn’t go over budget. A little leeway (tolerance) might be allowed, but it needs to stay reasonable.

Official Definition:
The sequence of tasks that determines the shortest possible duration of the project. Delay in any critical task delays the whole project.

Layman’s Definition:
The critical path is the chain of tasks you can’t afford to delay — if one slips, the whole project slips.

Official Definition:
A tangible or intangible product, service, or component produced by the project for the client.

Layman’s Definition:
A Deliverable is something the project creates or produces — a thing, service or result that’s handed over to the client or user(s) to start using.

Official Definition:
A description of a product's purpose, composition, derivation, and quality criteria.

Layman’s Definition:
A Deliverable Description explains what the thing you're making is, what it's made of, why it's needed, and how you'll know it's good enough.

Official Definition:
A relationship between activities or Deliverables where one relies on another being completed first.

Layman’s Definition:
A Dependency is when something in the project can’t start or finish until something else is done first.

Official Definition:
Giving team members the authority, resources, and confidence to make decisions and take action.

Layman’s Definition:
Trusting people to do their job without micromanaging them.

Official Definition:
A review by the Project Board to decide whether to approve the project to continue to the next stage.

Layman’s Definition:
At the end of each stage, there’s a decision point where the Project Board decides if the project should continue, stop, or change direction.

Official Definition:
A formal process used to predict the environmental consequences of proposed initiatives before they are carried out, often required by legislation.

Layman's Definition:
A report that checks how a project might affect the environment and suggests ways to reduce any harm.

Official Definition:
The process of referring an issue or forecast breach of tolerance to the next level of authority.

Layman’s Definition:
When things are starting to go wrong — and your limits have been (or might be) exceeded — you raise the alarm and tell your management level above you, which may be the Project Board.

AKA: Exception Report

Official Definition:
A description of the situation being escalated, its impact, and potential options for resolving it.

Layman’s Definition:
It’s the formal or informal report explaining what’s going wrong, why it matters, and what can be done to fix it.

Official Definition:
An approximate calculation or judgement of the value, number, quantity, or extent of something.

Layman’s Definition:
An educated guess — based on what you know now — about how long something will take, how much it will cost, or how many people it will need.

Official Definition:
A situation where it is forecast that project tolerances will be exceeded.

Layman’s Definition:
When something is predicted to be going so far off plan that it's about to break the rules (budget, time, quality), it becomes an Exception — and must be escalated.

Official Definition:
A plan that replaces the existing Stage or Project Plan after a Project Board decision (usually based on an Exception Report explaining the forecast of tolerances to be exceeded).

Layman’s Definition:
It’s the replacement plan — written when the Project Board decide that things have gone too far off track and the current plan can’t be followed.

See Escalation Report

AKA: Sponsor

Official Definition:
The individual ultimately accountable for the project and responsible for ensuring that it meets its objectives and delivers value.

Layman’s Definition:
The Executive is the boss of the project — the person who owns it and makes sure it’s worth doing.

Official Definition:
A bar chart used in project management to illustrate a project schedule, showing the start and finish dates of elements within the project.

Layman's Definition:
A visual timeline of the project with tasks laid out in order so you can see what happens when and how things overlap.

Official Definition:
A point in the project lifecycle where a decision is made whether to proceed, delay, or stop.

Layman’s Definition:
A Go/No-Go Decision is a formal moment where the project team and stakeholders decide: “Do we move forward or not?”

Official Definition:
The framework of authority and accountability that defines and controls how a project is managed and executed.

Layman’s Definition:
Governance is the structure that keeps the project on track — who makes what decisions, who’s accountable, and what rules are followed.

Official Definition:
A time-driven report from the Project Manager to the Project Board on stage progress.

Layman’s Definition:
A regular (time-driven) progress update to the Project Board. It includes what is what’s going well, what’s not, and what’s coming next. More importantly, it confirms to the Project Board that the current stage is currently and still predicted to be inside the stage tolerances. This is just an update, no action or decision is required.