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Knowledge base

Concepts

Every entry starts with a short definition. Entries with a body go further.

41 concepts

A

Acceptance criteria

Testable conditions that say when a piece of work is done enough to inspect.

Adaptive approach

An approach that expects learning and change, using short feedback cycles to choose what to do next.

Agile

A movement and way of working that values people, usable results, collaboration, and responsiveness while using feedback to adapt under uncertainty.

Alignment test

A structured comparison of participants' independently recorded views of a goal, user, problem or outcome, used to expose consequential disagreement before delivery choices are fixed.

Anchoring

The tendency for an available starting value to influence a later numerical judgement, even when the final estimate is adjusted from that starting point.

B

Backlog

An ordered list of work that a team can pull from as capacity allows.

Backlog detail horizon

The point beyond which backlog items deliberately carry less detail because their priority, design and evidence may change before the team is ready to select them.

Baseline

The approved version of scope, schedule, or cost used to compare actuals.

C

Confidence prompt

A subjective rating followed by a request for the evidence, expectation or concern behind it; useful for opening discussion but not interchangeable with outcome or value measurement.

Critical path

The longest sequence of dependent activities that determines the earliest finish.

D

Decision-grade estimate

An estimate documented with its purpose, bounded scope, evidence basis, assumptions, uncertainty and review trigger so a named decision can be made without treating the forecast as a promise.

Delivery observation window

The explicitly bounded set of completed-work observations used to inform a delivery forecast, including its dates, work definition, team context and known changes.

Dependency demand

The coordination work created when delivery of a meaningful outcome requires another team, function or approval queue to act before value can move.

Diagnostic signal

A defined observation or pattern that prompts investigation because the current process may no longer match its baseline, without by itself proving a cause or prescribing a response.

E

Earned value

A measure of the work actually completed, expressed in the same units as the plan.

Estimation divergence

A material difference between estimates that is retained and investigated for conflicting scope interpretations, hidden dependencies, alternative approaches or missing evidence.

F

Feedback loop

A cycle that uses observed results to change the next action.

Forecast adjustment decision

A recorded choice to retain or revise scope, date, investment or risk after changed evidence has been investigated and its effect on the forecast has been assessed.

Forecast expiry

The declared point or trigger after which a forecast must be recalculated because delivery evidence, scope, capacity, cost or assumptions may no longer represent the decision context.

I

Increment

A usable addition of value that can be inspected and potentially released.

Incremental

Delivering a larger result as a sequence of smaller usable additions.

Iterative

Revisiting and improving work through repeated feedback cycles.

M

Milestone

A significant point used to review progress, not a chunk of work in itself.

O

Outcome

A change in the world that the work is intended to produce for users or the organisation.

Output

A deliverable produced by the work, which may or may not create the intended outcome.

P

Product backlog

The ordered inventory of product work that a product owner keeps current.

Project charter

A short authorising record of why a project exists, who owns it, and what success looks like.

R

Reference item

A previously understood item used as a comparison point for relative sizing, with its scope and context kept visible so that comparison does not silently become a delivery forecast.

Review decision contract

A declaration of the decision a review meeting must inform, the evidence required, the accountable decision-maker and the change that follows each plausible finding.

Risk register

A living record of uncertain events, their effect, and the responses in play.

Roadmap

A time-horizon view of intended outcomes, not a promise of a fixed feature calendar.

Rolling-wave forecast

A forecast revised at declared checkpoints as actual cost, delivery evidence and changed assumptions become available, while preserving the basis of earlier versions.

S

Stakeholder

A person or group who can affect, or is affected by, the work or its outcome.

T

Timebox

A fixed duration that constrains work so learning happens on a predictable cadence.

U

Uncertainty driver

A named assumption, dependency, novelty or information gap that could materially change a forecast and can be linked to a learning action or decision.

User story

A short request for a product change written from a user point of view.

V

Value-complete team

A team with enough skills, authority and operational access to deliver and learn from a meaningful slice of value without routine hand-offs across functional queues.

W

Waterfall

A predictive approach in which work progresses through largely sequential phases based on substantial up-front definition.

WIP limit

A cap on how much work may be in progress at once, used to expose delay and improve flow.