Project Management Terminology You Need to Know

Adriana Girdler

Some must-know terms you need to know before starting your project! Are you new to project management and have heard some new terms you weren’t …

Some must-know terms you need to know before starting your project!

Are you new to project management and have heard some new terms you weren’t aware of?

It’s really important to understand some of the most-used project management terms so that you can keep up with what’s happening on your project and succeed.

1 – Projects

You may think that there’s an obvious definition to this word, but it’s really important that you understand what a project actually is, so you know exactly what you need to accomplish.

A project is an activity or initiative that has a start and end date with tasks to reach a specific outcome.

Projects are not just your everyday work. If you have tasks that you’re constantly repeating over and over, that’s not a project; that’s just an everyday work task.

Just note that the start and end date are really key to making something a project – a project is temporary in nature.

2 – Project life cycle

This is one of the most critical project management terms that you need to understand because all projects go through this life cycle.

A project life cycle is the sequence of activities a project goes through. There are five specific phases of the project life cycle:

  • Initiating
  • Planning
  • Executing
  • Monitor + control
  • Closing

It doesn’t matter what project management methodology you use; they all go through this framework, which is why it is critical to understand.

More Project Management Terminology

If you want to understand these project management terms in more detail, as well as 8 other project management buzz words, head over to my YouTube channel and watch the video I made that goes into depth on these terms and more.

Meanwhile, if you really are committed to mastering your projects, do consider taking my SLAY Project Management online course where I show you step-by-step how to successfully manage a project, including a cheat sheet of every project management term you’ll need and other helpful templates, along with detailed video instructions on all the templates and how to take your project through all five project life cycles.

-Adriana

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Adriana Girdler is a project manager, productivity specialist, entrepreneur, professional speaker, facilitator, visioning wizard, and author. As President of CornerStone Dynamics, Adriana is one of Canada’s prominent business productivity and project management specialists—helping both individuals and businesses do what they do, only better. She is a certified master black belt lean six sigma with over 20 years’ experience improving how companies work.

She also holds both PMP (project management professional) and CET (certified engineering technologist) designations. She’s a Tedx speaker, as well as a HuffPost and Thrive Global contributor. She has been interviewed on Global, CBC, CTV, CHCH, 680News Radio, Newstalk 1010, Sirius XM and published in the Globe and Mail and numerous industry magazines. WANT ADRIANA'S FREE ONLINE TRAINING? In 45 min, learn Adriana's 5 project management secrets she use on EVERY project. Sign up for the Free Webinar here: THE FAB FIVE FUNDAMENTALS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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