Delivery glossary
The method terms Pocket PMO uses, in plain English. Same definitions you see inside the product.
Planning
Dependency
A link that says one piece of work cannot start or finish until another one does. In a plan it fixes the order of tasks.
Why it matters: Dependencies are why plans slip in chains rather than one task at a time. Capturing them lets the planner reschedule everything downstream for you.
Milestone
A dated checkpoint that marks something meaningful being done, rather than a task somebody works on. It has no duration.
Why it matters: Milestones are what sponsors read. They turn hundreds of tasks into five dates people can hold you to.
Critical path
The longest chain of dependent tasks through the plan. If any task on it slips, the end date slips with it.
Why it matters: It tells you where to spend your attention, and which delays genuinely do not matter.
Prioritisation
MoSCoW
A way of sorting work into Must have, Should have, Could have and Won't have this time. It forces a decision about what actually has to land rather than treating everything as urgent.
Why it matters: Sponsors argue less when the trade-off is written down. It is also the fastest way to protect a deadline when scope grows.
Governance
RAID log
One place for Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies. Risks might happen, issues already have, assumptions are things you are taking on trust, dependencies are things outside your control.
Why it matters: It is the evidence trail that shows you were managing delivery, not reacting to it — and it feeds your status reports automatically.
Baseline
A frozen copy of the agreed plan, dates and budget at a point in time. Everything after that is measured against it.
Why it matters: Without a baseline "we are late" is an opinion. With one you can show exactly what changed, when, and who approved it.
Benefit
The measurable improvement the work is meant to deliver — money saved, time recovered, risk reduced. Distinct from the output you build.
Why it matters: Projects get funded on benefits and cancelled when nobody can prove them. Tracking them is what turns delivery into a business case.
Governance level
How much process a project needs — Light for small, fast work; Full for regulated or high-value delivery. It controls which tabs and controls you see.
Why it matters: Applying heavyweight governance to a two-week piece of work is how good process gets a bad name.
Stage gate
A formal decision point between phases where somebody approves continuing, changing or stopping. Nothing moves forward until it is passed.
Why it matters: Gates stop money leaking into work that has quietly stopped making sense.
Change request
A formal ask to alter agreed scope, cost or dates. It gets assessed for impact and then approved or rejected.
Why it matters: It is the difference between scope creep and a decision somebody owns.
Lessons learned
What actually worked and what did not, captured while it is fresh. Not a blame exercise.
Why it matters: It is the only asset that makes your next project cheaper than your last one.
Reporting
Snapshot
A frozen, shareable report of a project or portfolio as it stood at one moment. Once approved it never changes.
Why it matters: It gives stakeholders a version of the truth they can quote in a meeting, without them poking around your live plan.
RAG status
Red, Amber or Green shorthand for how healthy something is. Green is on track, amber needs attention, red needs a decision.
Why it matters: It is the universal language of steering groups. Pocket PMO derives it from your real data, so it cannot drift into wishful thinking.