GLOSSARY

Note: Bold terms within a definition also are defined within this glossary.

accountable.

Being answerable for results of one’s own acts and commitments.

accountability.

Synonym for accountable.

action item.

A project problem that is logged, assigned to an owner to resolve, and then tracked until it is closed.

application support organization.

See maintenance organization.

approver.

A person who must personally give his approval on an item (e.g., a document, plan, or action) before that item can be considered approved. Approvers frequently have a dependency on the item to perform their work and meet their commitments. See reviewer.

architect.

See product architect.

architecture.

See product architecture.

BAO.

See business architect office.

benevolent dictator.

A leader who actively and sincerely solicits information and opinions from project members and others, then demonstrates the leadership, courage, and boldness to personally make the right decision, and stands accountable for that decision.

business architect.

The person who performs as the client’s advocate. The business architect owns the product requirements, manages client expectations, is charged with ensuring that the right product is built, and ensures that the client is appropriately represented throughout the development process.

business architect office (BAO).

A department or group that can serve as a home base for business architects.

change-control board.

Typically a group of people who meet as needed to follow the agreed-to process when a change to a controlled document is proposed. A typical use is to control changes proposed to documents such as the product requirements and the product specifications after these documents have been approved.

client.

The person, organization, or company that typically pays for and uses the product or service being developed or deployed.

closet plan.

The creation and collection of lower-priority small projects that develop function deemed nonessential, yet desirable, to a sanctioned project plan. If the function is satisfactorily developed from any of these nonessential projects by a predetermined date or point in the sanctioned project plan, that function can be added to the sanctioned project plan and included in the product.

command center.

See project command center.

complaining.

Behavior of talking at a problem rather than constructively working to correct the problem.

component.

A major design piece of a product. The collection of components comprises the programming portion of a product. A component is usually comprised of one or more modules or objects.

culture training.

The formal training of all project members—usually at the start of a project—in key hard skills, soft skills, and processes that are essential in helping to ensure a successful project.

customer.

See client.

department.

A group of people typically comprised of two or more teams, each having a distinct mission and headed by a resource manager. A department of nonmanagers typically consists of up to fifteen people. A department of resource managers typically consists of up to seven resource managers.

dictator.

See benevolent dictator.

direct report.

A person who reports to a resource manager. Only resource managers have direct reports. Having direct reports means that you have personnel or administrative responsibilities for employees, performing such duties as hiring and firing; evaluating performance; providing salary increases, promotions, and awards; and that you look out for their professional development and careers. Another way to say this is that resource managers address what is typically called manager-employee issues.

domain of responsibility.

Includes all responsibilities and commitments that fall within the scope of a person’s assignment.

earned value.

A method for measuring project performance. It compares the amount of work that was planned with what was actually accomplished to determine if cost and schedule performance is as planned. (This definition was extracted from A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, by the Project Management Institute, 1996.)

empowerment.

The act of understanding your job, taking ownership of your job, and doing whatever is necessary to accomplish that job, providing that it is within legal and ethical parameters.

EnterPrize Organization.

A method to organize software projects to appropriately drive and balance responsibility, personal accountability, and authority across the members of a project with the intention of optimizing their performance and producing a successful project.

escalatee.

The person whose position on an issue is being challenged by the escalator.

escalation.

The act of calling upon higher levels of a project’s leadership to resolve an issue. When two affected parties are unable to agree on the resolution of an issue, after a sincere attempt to negotiate a resolution has occurred, an escalation is pursued to resolve the issue.

escalator.

The person who initiates an escalation.

issue.

A problem that, if not resolved, is believed will have a significant harmful effect on the outcome of the project.

John Wayne mentality.

The mistaken belief that asking for help is a sign of weakness, but going it alone is a sign of strength and virtue.

lessons learned.

See postproject review.

maintenance organization.

An organization that corrects problems in existing products. Also called application support, systems support, production support, and sustaining organization.

maintenance release.

An updated version of an existing product, where the updates are fixes to problems that earlier releases contained. A maintenance release can also contain minor enhancements to the product.

management.

One or more resource managers whose primary role is to support the nonmanagers as they perform their day-to-day work.

management reserve.

Contingency of time and/or funds, which have been set aside after a project has been planned. The time and/or funds usually are used at the discretion of the project manager, should the need arise.

meets minimum requirements.

Providing the client with a product that satisfies her needs, so she can be successful; not committing to provide unessential function. Unessential function, if it is to be included as part of the product, is developed by way of a closet plan.

mentoring.

Working with a person to help develop his skills and increase his effectiveness in a specific area of interest. Mentoring should be personal and confidential and is best performed by a person that is not your boss or in your direct line of command.

objectives.

See product objectives.

open door.

An open invitation for an employee of a company to appeal a decision that affects the employee, which she believes is unfair or unjust. The appeal can be taken over the boss’ head to higher levels of management or to a special position or executive designated for that purpose. The open door is a safety valve for employees to professionally and maturely resolve issues, usually personal ones, which cannot be satisfactorily resolved using the standard and usual means. The open door only should be used as a last resort and very infrequently, if ever.

organization.

A group of people typically divided into two or more departments. Multiple projects are typically under way and are, wholly or in part, staffed by the people comprising the organization.

PAO.

See product architect office.

PMO.

See project management office.

post mortem.

See postproject review.

postproject review.

The review of a completed project by a selected group of project members who represent all the major organizations that participated on the project. For a small project, all project members should participate. The group identifies those things that went right, that went wrong, and where improvement can be made. The objective is to learn from project experiences, so future projects can benefit.

postproject review summary report.

A report identifying the most significant findings from postproject reviews. The report is updated routinely—say after every five to ten postproject reviews—and is used as a quick and easy method for project members to review the most important lessons learned from postproject reviews.

process architect.

The person who serves as the process champion for the project. The process architect is charged with ensuring that the appropriate processes are defined, documented, and followed, so high productivity, high quality, and minimal cycle times are achieved.

product.

A software package, consisting of at least code and publications, eventually put into a production environment or delivered to a client. In a broader sense, the definition of product also includes the product support materials that are required for activities such as marketing and maintenance. A software package can be a product that must be developed, or it can be an already-packaged or partially-packaged application.

product architect.

The person accountable for the technical solution to the client’s problems. The product architect owns the product specifications, the overall design (architecture) of the product, and ensures that the product is built right.

product architect office (PAO).

A department or group that can serve as a home base for product architects.

product architecture.

The level of design required for defining how the components of the product technically work 1) with one another, 2) with the surrounding hardware and software environment in which they must operate, and 3) internally. This design identifies the components that make up the product, defines the functional mission for each component, and defines, at a high level, the internal design of each component. (In some development shops, product architecture is synonymous with high-level design.)

production support organization.

See maintenance organization.

product manager.

The person with overall responsibility—from cradle to grave—for the success of a product.

product objectives.

A document that defines the solution to the problem (or set of problems) defined in the product-requirements document. This document defines, at a high level, a product that will satisfy a marketing opportunity and focuses on the perceived needs of the targeted client(s). The product-objectives document is intentionally approximately one-tenth the size of the product-specifications document.

product requirements.

A document that describes the client and market problems that need to be solved. This document focuses exclusively on the problems that need to be solved, not the solutions to those problems.

product review.

An independent review that is performed at selected points after the product has been delivered to the client. A product review allows a product in production to be examined for meeting key business parameters including customer satisfaction, return on investment, and quality goals.

product specifications.

A document that describes, in detail, precisely what the client will receive and use when the completed product is made available. Every function, command, screen, prompt, and other user interface-related items are documented, so all the participants involved in the software development process (including the client) know the product they are to build, document, test, use, and support.

program.

A group of related projects managed in a coordinated way. (This definition was extracted from A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, by the Project Management Institute, 1996.)

program manager.

The person who directs the planning and execution of a program and is held personally accountable for the success of the program.

project.

A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. (This definition was extracted from A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, by the Project Management Institute, 1996.)

project command center.

A designated space or room that contains the most current status about the project and is used to track the project. This area also is called the war room or simply the project room.

project improvement activity.

An activity included in a project plan that requires the project manager to convince a review panel of three members (or a designated person) that the project manager has appropriately applied the most significant lessons learned from recent projects to the new project.

project manager.

The person who directs the planning and execution of a project and is held personally accountable for the success of the project—sometimes referred to as release manager.

project management.

The planning, implementing, and controlling of a project with the specific goals of building and delivering a product or performing a service within the scope, schedule, cost, and quality that satisfies the client.

project management consulting.

The act of providing project management services and products. These services and products may take on many forms such as providing project management-related training, documenting processes and procedures (including templates), assisting in project planning and tracking activities, performing project reviews, and running an entire project from start to finish.

project management office (PMO).

A group of people whose mission is to support project managers in the successful launch, implementation, and completion of their projects. This includes performing any tasks that can benefit current or future projects.

project member.

A person assigned to a project such as the project manager, business architect, product architect, process architect, team leader, and team member. Resource managers are not typically thought of as being direct members of a project, because they usually do not have any project-related assignments. However, they do provide very important support roles for a project by working with, tracking, coaching, and helping their employees make and meet their commitments. Because of the vital support services provided by resource managers, they are included as part of the headcount and budget for a project and therefore are project members.

project office.

See project management office.

project review.

An independent review that is performed at selected points along the software development process for an active project. A project review allows an active project to be examined to determine its overall health. Actions are then recommended to immediately address any significant problems that are identified.

project support office.

See project management office.

regression testing.

The final series of tests performed after a major test has occurred (e.g., function test, system test) and/or the final test of a product. The test typically comprises a selected set of test scripts, taken from prior tests, that are run as final verification that the product works as it was intended. Regression testing verifies that the product function that used to work still does.

release.

See version and maintenance release.

release manager.

See project manager.

requirements.

See product requirements.

resize project.

An activity included in a project plan that appears at the end of major phases. The project, or a portion thereof, is resized if this activity is judged by the project manager as being required.

resource manager.

The person who hires, fires, makes job assignments, coaches, counsels, evaluates, awards, promotes, and secures future work opportunities for her direct reports.

responsibility domain.

See domain of responsibility.

reviewer.

A person who has an interest in an item (e.g., a document, plan, or action), but the item does not necessarily impact his own work and commitments. The item should be made available for review to reviewers but can be considered approved without the agreement of the reviewers. See approver.

SEPG.

See software engineering process group.

soft behavior.

See too-soft behavior.

software engineering process group (SEPG).

Typically a group of people who serve as representatives from the varied functional groups across an organization. The primary roles of the group are to define, document, maintain, and improve the subprocesses that are the underpinnings of the software development process used across an organization and its projects.

specifications.

See product specifications.

subteam leader.

The person who directs the planning and execution of a team and is held personally accountable for the success of the team. The team referred to here is a portion of a larger team that is led by a team leader.

sustaining organization.

See maintenance organization.

systems support organization.

See maintenance organization.

team leader.

The person who directs the planning and execution of a team and is held personally accountable for the success of the team.

team member.

A project member who typically works under the technical direction of a team leader or someone else within the team leader’s team. However, a team member can work independently of a team leader, and take technical direction from a project member such as the project manager, business architect, product architect, process architect, or her resource manager.

too-soft behavior.

Behavior that results in being consistently less effective than what is otherwise possible in accomplishing responsibilities.

version.

The first offering of a new product or follow-up offerings with significant enhancements added.

WBS.

See work breakdown structure.

work breakdown structure (WBS).

“A deliverable-oriented grouping of project elements which organizes and defines the total scope of the project. Each descending level represents an increasingly detailed definition of a project component. Project components may be products or services.” (This definition was extracted from A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, by the Project Management Institute, 1996.)