Let's face it, acronym soup can get confusing pretty fast. Here's a handy reference list of Project Management and industry terms you can use to sound smart about almost any topic!

Broken down by category and then alphabetically.

Agile Methodology

• Developer - any talent on the Agile development team
• Gemba Walk - meaning "real thing" walk it is a management style "by walking around" tool where the manager personally observes where the work is happening
• Jira - an agile project management software tool that supports scrum, kanban or other flavors of Agile methodology
• Kanban - Signboard or billboard based scheduling and inventory control system for lean or JIT manufacturing
• Lean - provide perfect value to the customer through a perfect value creation system that has zero waste.
• Product Owner (or On-Site Customer, Active Stakeholder) Provides user stories to the developers and acts as a representative for the customer.
• Rally - A scrum
• Scrum - A time boxed sprint usually a day, week, or month long, in which the developers produce a version of the product which includes as many new features as the team agrees is possible.
• Scrum Master (or Team Lead, Team Coach, Project Lead) Acts as development team coach empowering them for success by removing obstacles and keeping focus
• VersionOne - A versatile and comprehensive Agile management tool for teams and projects of various scope and size
• UX - User experience
• XP -Extreme Programming - The most specific of the Agile frameworks using an interconnected set of software development practices.

Construction Management

• ANSI - American National Standards Institute
• ASME - American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• AutoCad MEP - AutoCAD for building systems with specialized tools and objects for HVAC, plumbing, piping, electrical as well as schematics.
• BIM - Building Information Modeling
• LEED Certified - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a green building system rating in use throughout the world. Originally developed in 1993, LEED 2009 is probably the widest and most implemented current standard.
• CCM - Certified Construction Manager It is the only CM certification accredited by ANSI
• IoT - Internet of Things - Smart door locks, lights, refrigerators, TVs, HVAC, dishwashers, etc.
• MEP - Mechanical, Engineering, Plumbing
• Navisworks - (aka Jetstream but now owned by Autodesk) 3D design review software for Windows that combines design data created in AutoCAD and Revit based products plus other models. Allows users to navigate around models in real-time and review the model using a set of tools including comments, red lining, viewpoint and measurements.
• NEMA - National Electrical Manufacturing Association
• OSHA - Occupational Safety and Health Administration
• OSHA 10 - One of two OSHA developed 10 hour training courses: One for Construction, one for General Industry
• OSHA 30 - One of two OSHA developed 30 hour training courses: One for Construction, one for General Industry
• Revit - Software for BIM design including features for architectural design, structural engineering and construction.

Manufacturing and Production

• AutoCAD - Industry standard drafting and design software for engineering drawings.
• Bluebeam - American software product specializing in designing tools for creating, editing, marking up, collaborating and sharing PDF documents. Main product is Bluebeam Revu, an alternative to Adobe Acrobat.
• BP - Batch Process
• cGMP - Current Good Manufacturing Practices
• CIP - Clean In Place
• CP - Continuous Process
• DC - Distillation Column
• GC - Gas Chromatography
• HACCP - Hazards Analysis Critical Control Point
• HMI - Human Machine Interface
• HPLC - High Performance Liquid Chromatography
• HSE - Health, Safety and Environment. Successful HSE programs include measures to address ergonomics, air quality, carbon footprint and other aspects of workplace safety.
• ISO 9000/9001 - International Standards Organization specifications for
• JIT - Just In Time
• Lean - provide perfect value to the customer through a perfect value creation system that has zero waste.
• P&ID - Piping and Instrumentation Drawing (or Diagram)
• PCR - Polymerase Chain Reaction
• PFD - Process Flow Diagram
• PLC - Programmable Logic Control
• Six Sigma - Disciplined, data driven approach for eliminating defects and driving toward six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit.
• SOP - Standard Operating Procedure (or Practice)
• TQM - Total Quality Management

Networking Terms

• Bridge - connection between two ethernet networks
• DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (automatic assignment of IP addresses when new device detected on network)
• DS3 Line - Typical broadband cable connector aka T3 or digital signal level 3 capable of 44.736 mb/s data rate using 75 ohm coax cable and BNC connectors on each end
• Enterprise Wide - Network reaching all aspects of the enterprise including divisions domestic and international
• Extranet - Network reaching outside intranet to external resources
• FO, FOC or Fiber - Fiber optic cable - A data transmission cable of ** speeds requiring specialized splicing and termination tools
• Gigabit Ethernet - Regular CAT5E or CAT6 cable run and terminated properly to give 1000 MBS (GBS) transmission speeds. Must be used with Gigabit equipment at both ends (ethernet card and router/switch/bridge) to get full speed
• Intranet - Network for internal resources
• IP - Internet Protocol
• LAN - Local Area Network
• Modem - demarcation point between ISP and residence/busines. Often combined with a router.
• NAT - Network address translation
• Router - Intelligent, programmable ethernet traffic management device able to handle NAT, assign DHCP IP addresses, perform traffic shapping and user restriction including white and blacklists among other features.
• Switch - Dumb ethernet terminal that rebroadcasts all traffic on all channels (repeater)
• T1 Line - Fiber optic cable that can handle 24 voice calls or 1.544 mb/s of data
• TCP/IP - Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
• TLS - Transport Layer Security
• WAN - Wide Area Network
• WIFI - wireless fidelity - a method of networking using radio waves typically capable of 54 MBS transmission speeds and supporting multiple end users simultaneously

Software and App Development

• Agile - Development methodology based on time boxed scrums or sprints designed to rapidly integrate an iterative and changing set of user requirements
• AppDev - Application Development. The reasons "there's an app for that"!
• ATF- Automated Testing Frameworks An ideal, automated testing environment in an Agile organization such as BDD, TDD, ATTD, etc.
• ATTD - Acceptance Test Driven Development
• BDD - Behavior Driven Development
• FDD - Framework Driven Development
• GDPR - European data privacy regulations which go into effect in May 2018 will take many companies by surprise if they do business with European customers.
• Git or GitHub - web based version control repository hosting service mostly used for computer code it offers version control and source code management (SCM) functionality as well as access control and bug tracking.
• SDLC - Software Development Life Cycle
• Slack - a possible replacement for email, it brings team communication and collaboration into one place and syncs between all devices
• SQA - Software Quality Assurance
• TDD - Test Driven Development
• Waterfall - This software development process emphasizes a sequence of logical steps flowing one to the other like a waterfall. The 6 main stages of falling water are: Requirements, Analysis, Design, Coding, Testing, Operations
• UX - User experience

Software Used for PM Work and Communication

• Asana - web and mobile app designed to help teams track their work
• AutoCAD - Engineering and technical drawing/drafting package used heavily in many industries.
• Bitrix24 - A top rated up and coming PM software tool that is free to try.
• Chatbot - most prevalent manifestation of AI in project management to date. Different offerings perform different functions using AI to prompt team members for relevant information with live, spoken questions such as "What's urgent" or "Show me what's happening today or what my team is working on".
• Epic Clarity - A Microsoft SQL server database designed to handle a large subset of data that comes from Epic. Primarily targeted to health care industry.
• Epic Cogito - Data warehouse offering from Epic that is part of a suite of health care focused applications.
• CMDB - Configuration Management Database
• CRM - Customer Relationship Management (voice portal, web portal Siebel, Salesforce, etc.)
• Crystal Reports - Founded in 1991, it is an evolving business intelligence application currently marketed to small businesses by SAP SE, it is used to design and generate reports from a wide range of data sources including Sybase, DB2, Access, SQL, MySQL, Informix, Oracle and Salesforce.
• ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning
• HipChat - Team communication solution with group and direct chat messaging, voice an video conferencing and built in collaboration tools
• Meister Task - Free to try task based PM software.
• MS Project - Microsoft Project
• Office 365/MS Office - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook
• Oracle - American multinational technology corporation specializing primarily in databases, cloud engineered systems and enterprise software products such as the Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Fusion, Oracle Enterprise Manager, Primavera, various development software tools and many more.
• Orangescrum - customizable Agile based PM software free to try
• PeopleSoft - an Oracle based and developed package with modules for Human Capital Management, Financial Management, Supplier Relationship Management, Enterprise Services Automation, Supply Chain Management, and People Tools
• Primavera - Oracle based project management suite
• SAP - A market leader in enterprise application software, the modern SAP modules are cloud, on-premise or hybrid based and offer to industry a wide variety of tools to streamline their process and manage resources more efficiently. Functional modules include: Human Capital management, Production Planning, Materials Management, Project Systems, Sales and Distribution, Plant Maintenance; Financial Accounting; Quality management, Controlling. SAP also has cross-application components which can be implemented with any main module including: Document Management System, Classification, Product Lifecycle Management. There are also 8 technical modules and industry specific apps such as SAP for Utilities, Insurance, Oil and Gas, and Health care.
• SalesForce - Predominant CRM platform including modules for Sales, Service, Marketing, Commerce, Quip and Platform.
• ServiceNow - Cloud-based platform for IT industry automation of services. Creates a single system of record for different IT process bringing together design, strategy and operation. Later additions include Service Catalog Management, Project management applications, CMDB and Enterprise and HR Management.
• Slack - channel based team communication software for workflow which integrates with existing tools such as Asana, Jira, Salesforce, Dropbox, Trello and Google Drive
• SharePoint - Hybrid or cloud based collaboration platform from MS that integrates with MS Office (part of Office 365 since 2010). Primarily used as a document management and storage solution, it is high configurable and varies substantially between organizations.
• SmartSheet - Project management software with details for Project Plans and Schedule, Resource Management, Task Tracking, Budget Tracking, Program Rollups, Strategic Planning
• SOA - Service Oriented Architecture
• Stratejos - AI type of project management assistant for SW teams connects to tools like Jira, Slack or HipChat and takes care of admin, reporting and follow-ups
• Taiga - free to try PM software
• Trello - free to try PM software
• MS Visio - a Microsoft owned vector graphics solution for diagramming and making flowcharts. First introduced in 1992 it was acquired by MS in 2000.
• Wrike - top rated free to try PM software
• ZiveBox - A digital workforce tool with a decent number of PM features that uses AI to determine how long a task should take, examines the productivity of each team member and sorts through chat conversations to pick up project intelligence.
• Zoho Projects - project based PM software free to try

Traditional Project Management Terms and PMI Certifications

• ANSI - American National Standards Institute
• BI - Business Intelligence (data mining)
• CAPM - Certified Associate in Project Management Available through PMI, the CAPM designation costs $300 for non members, requires a secondary degree and 1,500 hours of project experience of 23 hours of PM education prior to sitting for the exam. You must retake the exam every 5 years.
• CBT - Computer Based Training
• CLO - Chief Learning Officer
• COI - Central Office of Information
• CPR - Contract Performance Report
• CTH - Contract to Hire
• EDMF - Ethical Decision Making Framework
• EQ - Emotional Quotient , Empathic or Empathy Quotient
• GCH - Green Card Holder
• H-1B - employment visa required for non-US citizens to work in the US legally
• LOE - Level of Effort The cadence of each team members output.
• PDU - Professional Development Unit Accredited hour of PM education.
• PfMP - Portfolio Management Professional
• PgMP - Program Management Professional
• PMBOK - Project Management Body of Knowledge
• PMI - Project Management Institute PMI provides various certifications for project management professionals
• PMI-ACP - PMI Agile Certified Practitioner
• PMI Certified - Certified in one or more of the recognitions PMI offers.
• PMI - PBA - PMI Professional in Business Analysis
• PMI-RMP - PMI Risk Management Professional
• PMI- SP - PMI Scheduling Professional
• PMIAA - Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act
• PMIO - Program Management Improvement Officer
• PMO- Project Management Office
• PMP - Project Management Professional Available through PMI, PMP is recognized and demanded worldwide. It costs $555 to sit for the test, requires secondary degree, 7,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours PM education OR a four year degree plus 4,500 hours leading and directing and 35 hours of PM education. To maintain PMP status, you must complete 60 professional development units every 3 years.
• POV - Point Of View
• PR - Public Relations or Project Reporting
• REP - Registered Education Provider
• RFP/RFQ - Request for proposal, request for quote
• USC - United States Citizen - has right to work for any US employer

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