It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.

– John Wooden

There are many terms in the PMBOK® Guide that are easily confused with each other as they have a thin line of difference between them. e.g. Analogous and Parametric Estimating; Work performance data and Work performance information. They get especially tricky to distinguish when they are present as options in the same question. Also performance pressure during the 4 hours of PMP exam might lead to confusion in selecting the correct answer.

Mastering these terms may give you an edge to help you achieve “Proficient” rather than “Moderately” Proficient in the 5 Process Groups in the PMP exam. Will that not be Great? It’s all in the “Winning Plan for PMP”

So… keep calm and read the following nuances that we are in the process of developing!!

The terms listed below are the ones the authors found during their reading. This list is not exhaustive as you might find more terms like these during your study. Make sure that you note all those terms and look up their meaning on the internet, PMBOK® Guide or your reference guide.

1. Activity vs Work Package
2. Administrative Closure vs Contract Closure
3. Analogous Estimating and Parametric Estimating
4. Change Control vs Configuration Control
5. Change Control vs Perform Integrated Change Control
6. Close Phase vs Close Project
7. Contingency Reserves and Management Reserves
8. Control Account vs Code of Account
9. Control Account vs Planning Package
10. Control Account vs Work Package
11. Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) vs Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Contract
12. Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF) vs Fixed Price Incentive Fee (FPIF) Contract
13. Cost-Benefit Ratio vs Benefit-Cost Ratio
14. Crashing vs Fast tracking
15. Create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) vs Decomposition
16. Critical Path Method and Critical Chain Method
17. Discrete Effort vs Apportioned Effort vs Level of Effort
18. Earned Value Management (EVM) vs Expected Monetary Value (EMV)
19. Earned Value vs Actual Cost
20. Earned Value vs Planned Value
21. Enhance vs Exploit
22. Enterprise Environmental Factors and Organizational Process Assets
23. Estimate at Completion (EAC) vs Estimate to Complete (ETC)
24. Fallback Plan vs Workaround
25. Fast tracking and Crashing
26. Focus Groups and Facilitated Workshops
27. Forward Pass vs Backward Pass
28. Free Float and Total Float
29. Functional Organization vs Projectized Organization
30. Grade vs Quality
31. Histogram vs Pareto Chart
32. Inspection and Audits
33. Known Unknown vs Unknown Unknown
34. Lead vs Lag
35. Logical Relationship vs Precedence Relationship
36. Precision and Accuracy
37. Project Buffer vs Feeding Buffer
38. Project Charter and Project Scope Statement
39. Project Life Cycle vs Product Life Cycle
40. Project Management Plan vs Project Documents
41. Project Performance Appraisal vs Team Performance Assessment
42. Project schedule and Schedule Baseline
43. Project Scope vs Product Scope
44. Quality Assurance and Control Quality
45. Quality Metrics and Quality checklists
46. Residual Risk vs Secondary Risk
47. Resource Leveling and Resource Smoothing
48. Responsibility Assignment Matrix and Requirements Traceability Matrix
49. Risk Threshold vs Risk Tolerance
50. Rolling Wave Planning and Prototypes
51. Statement of Work (SOW) and Project Scope Statement
52. Type X and Type Y Herzberg theory
53. Validate Scope and Control Quality
54. Validation vs Verification
55. Verified Deliverables and Accepted deliverables
56. Work Performance Data, Work Performance Information and Work Performance Reports

Have more nuances on your mind…. write to us or mention in comments below

Further on the importance of NUANCES… continue reading in ‘Winning Plan for PMP’