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Project Management Glossary
24 project and task management terms, defined in plain English — no jargon explaining jargon.
Backlog
A prioritized list of work that hasn't been started yet. A healthy backlog is short and ordered — a graveyard of forgotten ideas is not a backlog, it's clutter.
Blocker
Anything preventing a task from moving forward — a missing decision, a dependency on another team, a bug in a shared library. Blockers should be flagged the moment they're discovered.
Burndown Chart
A chart showing remaining work versus time in a sprint. A healthy burndown trends toward zero by the sprint's end; a flat line early on signals the sprint is already behind.
Burnup Chart
Like a burndown, but tracks completed work upward instead of remaining work downward — useful because it also shows when scope is added mid-sprint.
Cycle Time
The time a task takes from when work actually starts to when it's done. Unlike lead time, it excludes time spent waiting in the backlog.
Dependency
A task that can't start or finish until another task completes. Chains of dependencies are the most common cause of schedule slippage.
Epic
A large body of work too big to complete in a single sprint, broken down into smaller tasks or stories that each deliver a piece of it.
Kanban
A visual method for managing work as it flows through stages (columns), using WIP limits to control how much is in progress at once.
Lead Time
The total time from when a task is requested to when it's delivered — including time spent waiting in the backlog before work even starts.
Milestone
A significant point in a project's timeline marking the completion of a phase or a major deliverable — used for tracking progress at a higher level than individual tasks.
Retrospective (Retro)
A recurring meeting where the team reflects on what worked, what didn't, and what to change — most useful when it ends with one specific, owned action item.
Scrum
An agile framework organizing work into fixed-length sprints, with defined roles (Product Owner, Scrum Master, team) and ceremonies (planning, standup, review, retro).
Sprint
A fixed time box — usually 1-4 weeks — in which a team commits to completing a defined set of work, then reviews and plans the next one.
Standup
A short, recurring sync (traditionally daily) where each team member shares what they did, what they're doing next, and any blockers.
Story Point
A relative unit of estimation representing the effort, complexity, and uncertainty of a task — deliberately not a direct measure of hours.
Swimlane
A horizontal row on a board used to group tasks by category, team, or priority — separate from the columns, which represent workflow stages.
Task
The smallest unit of trackable work — a single, concrete action with one owner and a clear definition of done.
Throughput
The number of tasks a team completes in a given time period — a raw count that, tracked over time, reveals capacity trends independent of estimation.
Timeline (Gantt)
A horizontal-bar view of tasks plotted against dates, showing duration, dependencies, and overlap — best suited to projects with fixed milestones.
User Story
A short description of a feature from the end user's perspective, typically in the form 'As a [user], I want [goal], so that [benefit].'
Velocity
The average amount of work (usually in story points) a team completes per sprint — used to forecast how much future work will fit in upcoming sprints.
WIP Limit
A cap on how many tasks can be in a given workflow stage at once. WIP limits are what force a team to finish work before starting more.
Workflow
The sequence of stages a task moves through from creation to completion — the columns on a kanban board are a visual representation of a workflow.
Workload View
A view showing how much work is assigned to each person, used to spot overloaded team members before a deadline is at risk.
See These Terms in Action
My First Task's boards, sprints, and reporting put every one of these concepts to work — with a Free plan available.
Put this workflow into practice
See how the terms apply to actual planning and delivery decisions.
Milestones vs. Tasks: Project Planning Examples
A task describes work to perform; a milestone marks a significant checkpoint or accepted outcome. Use tasks to assign the work and milestones to communicate whether the project has reached an agreed stage.
ExploreTask Dependencies: Blockers, Sequence and Ownership
A task dependency records that one piece of work relies on another task, decision or input. It makes sequencing explicit so people can see what can start, what is blocked and who can resolve the prerequisite.
ExploreAcceptance Criteria Examples: A Practical Writing Guide
Acceptance criteria are observable conditions a particular work item must satisfy before it is accepted. Write them around behavior and evidence, including important failure cases. A definition of done sets broader quality expectations across work items.
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