Just like any other discipline, project management has its own jargon and terminologies that you need to know. A standardized terminology helps project management professionals assess, plan, and execute projects within an organization efficiently.

Mastering these terminologies will ensure that you understand what the project manager is referring to during team meetings and roundtable discussions. It will also help you better communicate with project sponsors and top-level management when requesting for specific directions.

Here are the top project management terms you need to know to help you perform better.

If you’re an IT Project Manager, it’s a horrible feeling isn’t it? A Project that has failed.
Mix together how it would feel to be a football manager whose team selections over a season led to relegation, with the emotions of an Olympic athlete who after 4 years of sacrifice and preparation, steps onto the track and twists an ankle, and then blend in the despair of a weight loss instructor who drives home past McDonalds and sees all her class standing in the queue … and you’re probably about halfway there.

It’s a rotten feeling.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? When negatively accused of either in a challenging project setting, do you respond like most people, “No, I am merely realistic”? Most people believe they have a grip on reality, but I sometimes wonder if we project management types really grasp and respond to the reality within and around our projects.