25 Project Management Terms Every PM Professional Should Know

Project management skills are a strong advantage for many career paths. It’s all about applying knowledge, skills, and processes in order to achieve a project goal. These are the main elements of project management:
Highlighting the importance and value of a project
Establishing the prerequisites for projects, as well as the allocation and timeframe of resources and deliverables.
Management of issues, risks, changes to projects, and budget
Effective communication between team members and stakeholders is key to success
Project closure in a controlled, timely manner
There are a few common terms associated with project management. These terms will help project teams standardize their startup process and work together. This blog will discuss the meaning of 25 PM terms. Let’s get to it.
1. Stakeholders
Project management is not complete without the involvement of stakeholders. These are people who are affected by the project and are involved in it. There are many types of stakeholders in a project. Stakeholders are members of an organization that have some involvement in the project. External stakeholders, such as government agencies, can also influence the project. Customers are also stakeholders in product development because they demand the products to meet their needs. The project must meet all stakeholders’ expectations.
2. Change Management
This refers to a project manager plan that has the authority to approve or reject changes to a project. This term is used to manage changes that occur during a project based on previously planned statements and requirements. If the change management approves of the new work, a project manager cannot change the budget or deadline of a project.
3. Baseline
This is another important term. It refers to the process for evaluating the project’s performance. There are three basic baselines in project management: the schedule baseline, cost baseline and scope baseline. These three baselines are combined to create a total performance measurement baseline.
4. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
This term is important in project management. WBS is a hierarchical breakdown of work into manageable sizes. This allows project teams to understand each level of the work structure. The WBS is created by the team after analyzing the primary deliverables and then further dividing them into sub-deliverables. This continues until each unit is assigned to a member of the team.
5. Project Life Cycle
This is another important term to be familiar with in project management. The project lifecycle covers planning, design, analysis, budget, implementation, and termination. Although it can include multiple models, each model represents a single phase of the project’s development. A project life cycle typically includes project initiation, planning and monitoring & controlling, execution, closure, and closure.
6. Milestone
This is a process of scheduling that describes significant events or times that mark important moments in a project’s course. To highlight particular achievements, it is a good practice for project managers to use milestones in a project. A milestone is a component in the Gantt chart. It’s usually represented by a diamond on a project schedule. They are used in the major for the beginning phase, ending phase and fixed dates on a plan during a project’s course.
7. Gantt Chart
This is a bar chart that graphically displays scheduled information about a project. This is very useful in planning and scheduling projects. It is also useful for managing relationships between tasks. Gantt charts can be used to keep sponsors and project team members informed about the progress of the project.
8. Triple Constraint
Projects are often placed under certain constraints. Triple constraint refers four elements: time, cost and scope. It is usually represented by a triangle that has scope, cost and time at the corners and quality at its center. It is important to understand that each of these elements is balanced because any change in one will have an effect on the others.
9. Work Plan
This is the outline of a set of goals that will help a project team achieve the stated goals. The work plan’s purpose is to improve efficiency, systematize, and complete a project according to schedule, budget, and prerequisites. It lists all tasks and identifies the people responsible.
10. Business Plan
This is a file that contains project goals. It includes both the business’s specific goals and the strategies.