Project Management

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The Project Managers Lexicon (i.e., Vocabulary) -- the serious, fun and interesting side

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George Freeman Thought Leader | Author | Architect| Florida, United States
Project Managers are in the business of defining the boundaries of their projects. We have an extensive arsenal of processes and devices to accomplish this task all of which are anchored to an extensive domain vocabulary that sounds like “gibberish” to the uninformed. In addition, we have a reserved right to create nomenclature of our own when the need exists.

All of this being true, please share terms and phrases that you have used which are unique, interesting and/or funny. In addition, you could also come up with phrasings using our vernacular that would make the uninformed (i.e., someone who has no exposure to the project management realm) shake their head or look at us with concern wondering if we need medical attention. For example:

Interesting phrasing using PM vernacular:

-- When attempting to exploit a risk, we crashed our schedule and found ourselves on an unexpected critical path that forced our SWOT team to re-engage.

Custom Nomenclature

-- Epistemic Subterfuge: What happens when individuals on a project team rationally justify passive-aggressive behaviors to covertly achieve a contra goal to the one they are seemingly presenting themselves in "alignment with."

Again, you can make this a serious, interesting and/or fun exercise. Give it a try!
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Keith Novak Tukwila, Wa, United States
In addition to the WAG, SWAG, ROM, and other types of estimating approaches, one of the frequent methods rarely described in the literature is the BOGSAT estimate:

Bunch Of Guys Sitting Around a Table
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Stéphane Parent Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker Prince Edward Island, Canada
I'm not sure if it's only within the realm of project management but this one is an eye-roll for me:

to ballpark, v.: to provide a very high level estimate (aka ROM).

As in: "Would you please ballpark this change request?"
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1 reply by Jean Respass
May 08, 2019 3:48 PM
Jean Respass
...
I think it is also called a "guestimate".
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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
And there's always the painful "I think I'm going to have to hit you with a PCR"...
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Abolfazl Yousefi Darestani Manager, Quality and Continuous Improvement| Hörmann-TNR Industrial Doors Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
The BOGSAT one outlined by Keith is the one that made me laugh.
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Deepesh Rammoorthy ICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood Service Tarneit, Vic, Australia
I got ROOM - Rough Order of Magnitude
OOM - Order of Magnitude
VROOM - Very Rough Order of Magnitude
SAD - Solution Architecture Definition
TSR - Test Summary Report
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Jean Respass Sr Project Manager| Consulting Nashville, TN, United States
May 04, 2019 2:10 PM
Replying to Stéphane Parent
...
I'm not sure if it's only within the realm of project management but this one is an eye-roll for me:

to ballpark, v.: to provide a very high level estimate (aka ROM).

As in: "Would you please ballpark this change request?"
I think it is also called a "guestimate".
...
1 reply by Stéphane Parent
May 08, 2019 5:02 PM
Stéphane Parent
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And many of those acronyms listed by Keith.
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Stéphane Parent Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker Prince Edward Island, Canada
May 08, 2019 3:48 PM
Replying to Jean Respass
...
I think it is also called a "guestimate".
And many of those acronyms listed by Keith.

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