Practices

Explore our collection of definitions about practices below.

• Design Reviews

  Design reviews are structured evaluations of a design deliverable within a project. They verify that a proposed solution aligns with requirements, technical standards, and business objectives before significant...

• Decision Making

  Decision making is the process by which a project manager, team, sponsor, or governance body selects a course of action from two or more alternatives to move the project toward its objectives. In project management,...

• Critical Path

  The critical path is the longest sequence of dependent activities in a project schedule. It determines the earliest possible project finish date, and any delay to a task on the critical path delays the entire project...

• Corrective Action

  Corrective action is a deliberate, documented intervention used in project management to realign project work performance with the project management plan after a measured variance has occurred. It is a core...

• Checklists

  A checklist is a structured list of items, actions, criteria, or deliverables used in project management to verify that specific project activities have been completed, reviewed, or approved. It serves as a cognitive...

• Check Sheet

  A check sheet is a structured, tabular form used in project quality management to record and categorize data as it is collected. It enables project teams to track defects, frequencies, and process variations in real...

• Communication Planning

  Communication planning is the structured process of determining what information project stakeholders need, when and how they should receive it, and who is responsible for delivering it. It produces a communications...

• Celebrating Success

  Celebrating success is the deliberate recognition of achievements, milestones, and completed deliverables within project management. It acts as a strategic lever to reinforce team morale, demonstrate value to...

• Change Control System

  A change control system is a formal set of documented procedures, tools, and approval authorities that governs how modifications to project baselines, deliverables, and documentation are proposed, evaluated, approved,...

• Cause-and-Effect Diagram

  A cause-and-effect diagram is a structured visual tool used in project management to systematically identify potential causes contributing to a specific problem or outcome. By organizing causes into categories such as...

• Business Justification Analysis Methods

  Business justification analysis methods are systematic techniques used to evaluate whether a proposed project is worth the investment of organizational resources. These methods assess expected benefits, costs, risks,...

• Budget Build Up

  Budget Build Up is a systematic bottom-up cost estimation method that constructs a project's cost baseline by aggregating detailed estimates from the lowest levels of the work breakdown structure (WBS). It serves as...

• Burnup Chart

  A burnup chart is a graphical tool used in project management to display the amount of work completed and the total scope of a project over time. It enables teams to track progress while accounting for scope changes,...

• Business Model Canvas

  The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management template used in project management to visualize, analyze, and align a project’s value proposition with organizational strategy. It provides a concise, one-page...

• Benchmarking

  Benchmarking is a structured process used in project management to compare an organization’s practices, processes, and performance metrics against those of industry leaders or standards. It serves as a diagnostic tool...

• Bidder Conferences

  Bidder conferences are formal meetings held by a buyer after issuing procurement documents but before bids are submitted, giving all prospective sellers equal access to clarifications and requirements. In project...

• Big Visible Charts

  A Big Visible Chart is a large, prominently displayed physical or digital board that communicates critical project metrics, status, and progress in a transparent, immediately accessible way. It serves as an...

• Brainstorming

  Brainstorming is a facilitated group technique used in project management to generate a large volume of ideas, uncover risks, and define requirements through free-flowing, non-judgmental conversation. It temporarily...

• Backlog Refinement Meeting

  A Backlog Refinement Meeting, also known as backlog grooming, is a recurring Agile ceremony where the product owner, development team, and stakeholders review, clarify, estimate, and prioritize upcoming backlog items....

• Bar Chart

  A bar chart in project management is a graphical tool that uses rectangular bars to represent project data such as task durations, resource distributions, or frequencies. Most commonly associated with the Gantt chart,...

• Assumption and Constraint Analysis

  Assumption and Constraint Analysis is the systematic process of identifying, documenting, and validating the presumptions and limitations that underpin a project plan. It ensures uncertainty is explicitly acknowledged...

• Audits

  An audit in project management is a structured, independent examination of a project’s processes, deliverables, and documentation to verify compliance with standards, policies, and contractual requirements. It serves...

• Avoidance of Threats

  Avoidance of threats is a proactive risk response strategy that completely eliminates a specific project risk by removing its source or changing the project plan to circumvent the threat. Defined in the PMBOK Guide as...

• Analogous Estimating

  Analogous estimating is a top-down estimation technique that uses historical data and expert judgment from similar past projects to forecast the duration or cost of a current activity or project. It provides a quick,...

• Analytical Techniques

  Analytical techniques are systematic processes and logical models that project managers use to examine data, evaluate complex situations, and support decision-making throughout the project lifecycle. Encompassing both...

• Alternatives Analysis

  Alternatives Analysis is a systematic evaluation technique in project management used to identify, compare, and select the most viable option among multiple courses of action. It examines different approaches against...

• Adaptive Schedule Planning

  Adaptive schedule planning is a project scheduling methodology characterized by the iterative development and continuous refinement of the project timeline in response to emerging information, stakeholder feedback,...

• ADKAR Model

  The ADKAR Model is a goal-oriented change management framework that defines the five sequential conditions an individual must meet to successfully adopt and sustain a change. Unlike organizational change models that...

• Affinity Diagram

  An affinity diagram is a visual tool for organizing unstructured ideas, opinions, or data points into natural groups based on their relationships. In project management, it is used to synthesize qualitative...