Glossary
Project Manager Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential project manager terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key project manager vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in project manager training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Agile
- An iterative approach delivering work in small increments.
- Baseline
- The approved scope, schedule and cost used to measure performance.
- Change request
- A formal proposal to change scope, schedule or budget.
- Critical path
- The longest chain of dependent tasks that determines the project end date.
- Gantt chart
- A bar chart showing tasks over time.
- Kanban
- A visual workflow system limiting work in progress.
- Lessons learned
- Documented insights to improve future projects.
- Milestone
- A significant point or event in a project.
- RACI
- Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed: a role matrix.
- Risk register
- A log of risks with likelihood, impact and responses.
- Scope
- The work and deliverables included in a project.
- Scope creep
- Uncontrolled growth in project scope.
- Sprint
- A fixed time box, often two weeks, in Scrum.
- Stakeholder
- Anyone affected by or influencing the project.
- WBS
- Work breakdown structure: the hierarchy of deliverables and tasks.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Project Manager practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Project Manager training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.