Glossary

  • activity – "An element of work performed during the course of a project. An activity normally has an expected duration, an expected cost, and expected resource requirements". Beware that some organizations subdivide activities into tasks, while others use task and activity synonymously.
  • compress a schedule – The process of taking a schedule you have already developed and reducing it without adjusting the project's scope.
  • cost – "An expenditure, usually of money, for the purchase of goods or services".
  • crashing – A schedule compression technique that involves adding resources such as overtime or more equipment to speed up the schedule. Because of the costs involved in adding resources, crashing is "the technique to use when fast tracking has not saved enough time on the project schedule. With this technique, resources are added to the project for the least cost possible".
  • critical path – The "series of activities which determines the earliest completion of the project".
  • duration – "The time needed to complete an activity, path, or project".
  • fast tracking – A schedule compression technique in which "activities that would have been performed sequentially using the original schedule are performed in parallel. In other words, fast tracking a project means the activities are worked on simultaneously instead of waiting for each piece to be completed separately. But fast tracking can only be applied if the activities in question can actually be overlapped".
  • float – See slack.
  • Last Planner System (LPS) – A proprietary production planning system that exemplifies living order concepts and pull thinking; developed by Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell as a practical implementation of Lean principles.
  • last responsible moment – "The instant in which the cost of the delay of a decision surpasses the benefit of delay; or the moment when failing to make a decision eliminates an important alternative" (Lean Construction Institute).
  • milestone – "A significant event in the project; usually completion of a major deliverable" (State of Michigan: Department of Technology, Management & Budget).
  • path – "A sequence of connected activities".
  • reliable promise – In Lean and the Last Planner System, a formal commitment between team members. As defined by the Lean Construction Institute, "A promise made by a performer only after self-assuring that the promisor (1) is competent or has access to the competence (both skill and wherewithal), (2) has estimated the amount of time the task will take, (3) has blocked all time needed to perform, (4) is freely committing and is not privately doubting ability to achieve the outcome, and (5) is prepared to accept any upset that may result from failure to deliver as promised".
  • resource – "Any personnel, material, or equipment required for the performance of an activity".
  • schedule – A specific, time-based map designed to help the project team get from the current state to successful project completion. A schedule should build value, have an efficient flow, and be driven by pull forces.
  • slack – "Calculated time span during which an event has to occur within the logical and imposed constraints of the network, without affecting the total project duration". Or put more simply, slack, which is also called float, is the "amount of time that a task can be delayed without causing a delay" to subsequent tasks or the project's ultimate completion date.
  • sprint – In Agile project management, a brief (typically two-week) iterative cycle focused on producing an identified working deliverable (e.g., a segment of working code).
  • task – See activity.