Certification glossary
41 terms from the Scrum, ITIL, SAFe and PRINCE2 exams, defined in plain language. Exam questions frequently turn on a single word, so the definitions here are deliberately precise about what each term does and does not mean.
A
- Agile Release Trainsafe
- A long-lived team of Agile Teams, typically 50 to 125 people, that plans, commits and delivers together on a common cadence. It is persistent and organised around a value stream, not formed for a programme and disbanded afterwards. SAFe SSM practice →
B
- Business Caseprince2
- The PRINCE2 practice and baseline product that establishes whether the project is desirable, viable and achievable. It is tested continuously, not only at approval — if justification disappears, the project stops. PRINCE2 7 practice →
C
- Continual Improvementitil
- Both an ITIL guiding principle and an element of the ITIL Value System. It sits alongside the product and service lifecycle rather than inside it — ITIL 4 had an Improve activity, and version 5 does not. Its seven-step model runs from "What is the vision?" through to "How do we keep the momentum going?". ITIL 5 practice →
- Cycle Timesafe
- The elapsed time from work starting to work finishing. Distinct from lead time, which starts when the work is requested. Cycle time is what a team can influence directly by limiting work in progress. SAFe SSM practice →
D
- Daily Scrumscrum
- A 15-minute event for the Developers to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog. It is not a status report, and the Scrum Master does not run it. PSM I practice →
- Definition of Donescrum
- The shared standard of quality an Increment must meet to be releasable. It applies to the Increment as a whole, and where an organisational standard exists a team may strengthen it but never weaken it. PSM I practice →
- Developersscrum
- The Scrum Team members accountable for creating a usable Increment each Sprint. The term covers everyone doing the work, not only programmers — testers, designers and analysts are Developers in Scrum terms. PSM I practice →
E
- Empiricismscrum
- Making decisions from observation and experience rather than upfront prediction. Its three pillars are transparency, inspection and adaptation, and every Scrum event exists to serve them. PSM I practice →
- Evidence-Based Managementscrum
- A framework for improving decisions using four key value areas: Current Value, Unrealised Value, Time-to-Market and Ability to Innovate. It informs the next decision rather than justifying the last one. PSPO II practice →
- Exceptionprince2
- A situation where a tolerance is forecast to be exceeded. PRINCE2 escalates on the forecast rather than on the breach, so the decision arrives while there is still time to act on it. PRINCE2 7 practice →
F
- Four Dimensionsitil
- The four perspectives that must all be considered for a service to work: organisations and people; information and technology; partners and suppliers; and value streams and processes. Neglecting any one is a common cause of failed service design. ITIL 5 practice →
G
- Guiding Principlesitil
- Seven recommendations that apply in any circumstance: focus on value; start where you are; progress iteratively with feedback; collaborate and promote visibility; think and work holistically; keep it simple and practical; optimise and automate. ITIL 5 practice →
I
- Incrementscrum
- A concrete step toward the Product Goal. It is additive to all prior Increments, verified to work with them, and exists only once it meets the Definition of Done. Several may be created within one Sprint. PSM I practice →
- Iteration Goalsafe
- A short statement of what an Agile Team intends to achieve in an iteration, aligning the team and communicating intent to the wider Agile Release Train. SAFe SSM practice →
- ITIL Value Systemitil
- How an organisation's components and activities work together to create value; called the service value system in ITIL 4. Its elements are the guiding principles, governance, the product and service lifecycle, practices and continual improvement. ITIL 5 practice →
L
- Lead Timesafe
- The elapsed time from a request being made to it being delivered. It includes queue time, which is why it is usually far longer than cycle time and a better measure of what a customer experiences. SAFe SSM practice →
M
- Management by Exceptionprince2
- A PRINCE2 principle: each level of management sets tolerances for the level below, which escalates only when a tolerance is forecast to be exceeded. It is what lets a Project Board govern without daily involvement. PRINCE2 7 practice →
- Management Stageprince2
- The section of a project the Project Manager runs on behalf of the Project Board at any one time, ending at a decision point. Distinct from a delivery step or technical phase. PRINCE2 7 practice →
O
- Off-Specificationprince2
- A product that does not, or is forecast not to, meet its specification. One of the three PRINCE2 issue types, alongside a problem or concern and a request for change. PRINCE2 7 practice →
P
- PI Planningsafe
- A cadence-based event where every team on an Agile Release Train plans together, producing committed PI Objectives with business value and a program board of dependencies. Its main purpose is resolving cross-team dependencies face to face. SAFe SSM practice →
- Product and Service Lifecycleitil
- The operating model at the centre of the ITIL Value System, with eight activities: discover, design, acquire, build, transition, operate, deliver, and support. It replaces the six-activity service value chain of ITIL 4 — Plan, Improve and Engage are gone, and Obtain/Build splits into Acquire and Build. ITIL 5 practice →
- Product Backlogscrum
- The single ordered list of everything that might improve the product. One product has exactly one Product Backlog, however many teams work on it, and its ordering is the Product Owner's accountability. PSPO I practice →
- Product Goalscrum
- The commitment attached to the Product Backlog, describing a future state of the product. It gives ordering decisions their direction — without one, a backlog is a list of requests rather than a plan. PSPO I practice →
- Product Ownerscrum
- The single person accountable for maximising the value of the product and for the Product Backlog. The work of managing the backlog may be delegated; the accountability may not. PSPO I practice →
- Planning Intervalsafe
- A timebox, usually 8 to 12 weeks, during which an Agile Release Train delivers value. Typically four development iterations plus an Innovation and Planning iteration. Called the Program Increment before SAFe 6; the abbreviation PI is unchanged. SAFe SSM practice →
R
- Refinementscrum
- The ongoing activity of adding detail, estimates and order to Product Backlog items. It is not a Scrum event and has no prescribed timebox. Refining far down the backlog is waste, since the ordering will change first. PSPO I practice →
- Release Train Engineersafe
- The servant leader and chief Scrum Master for an Agile Release Train, facilitating its events and removing impediments teams cannot resolve. Not a line manager and not the owner of the ART Backlog. SAFe SSM practice →
S
- Scrum Masterscrum
- Accountable for the effectiveness of the Scrum Team and for establishing Scrum. A leader who serves, with no authority to direct the Developers' work, assign tasks, or decide technical questions. PSM I practice →
- Sprintscrum
- A fixed timebox of one month or less in which a usable Increment is created. Sprints are of consistent length, are never extended, and may only be cancelled by the Product Owner when the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. PSM I practice →
- Sprint Backlogscrum
- The Sprint Goal, the items selected for the Sprint, and the plan for delivering them. It belongs to the Developers and is theirs alone to change — a Product Owner may renegotiate scope but cannot alter the plan. PSM I practice →
- Sprint Goalscrum
- The single objective for the Sprint and the Developers' commitment. Scope may be renegotiated during the Sprint, but the Sprint Goal does not change. Meeting it makes the Sprint a success even if some items are unfinished. PSM I practice →
- Story Pointsscrum
- A relative estimation unit calibrated to one team. Points are not comparable between teams, and comparing them reliably produces estimate inflation rather than insight. PSM I practice →
T
- Tailoringprince2
- Adapting PRINCE2 to a project's context by combining roles, simplifying management products and adjusting formality. Practices, processes, roles and terminology may all be tailored; the seven principles never are. PRINCE2 7 practice →
- Technical Debtscrum
- Work deferred that makes future change more expensive. A weak Definition of Done is its main source, because incomplete work still gets labelled done and the shortfall becomes invisible. PSM I practice →
- Time-to-Marketscrum
- The Evidence-Based Management key value area measuring how quickly an organisation can deliver new value. Measured by lead time, cycle time and release frequency — not by customer satisfaction, which is Current Value. PSPO II practice →
- Toleranceprince2
- The permissible deviation from a plan before escalation is required, set for each performance target: cost, time, quality, scope, benefits, risk and sustainability. PRINCE2 7 practice →
U
- Unrealised Valuescrum
- The Evidence-Based Management key value area covering value that could be realised if additional needs were met. Measured by market gap and documented unmet needs, not by current revenue. PSPO II practice →
V
- Value Streamitil
- The sequence of activities an organisation performs to create and deliver a specific outcome to a consumer. Defined by the flow of work, not by the organisation chart — which is precisely why mapping it reveals waste the hierarchy hides. ITIL 5 practice →
- Velocityscrum
- The amount of work a team completes per Sprint, used by that team for its own forecasting. It is not a productivity measure and not a target: optimising it directly produces inflated estimates and nothing else. PSM I practice →
W
- Work in Progresssafe
- Work started but not finished. Limiting it is the most direct lever on cycle time, because high WIP forces multitasking and lengthens queues without increasing throughput. SAFe SSM practice →
- Work Packageprince2
- The agreement between the Project Manager and those delivering: what is to be produced, to what quality, within what constraints, and how progress is reported. The interface between controlling a stage and managing product delivery. PRINCE2 7 practice →
Test the vocabulary
Definitions are easy to recognise and hard to recall. Practice questions are where you find out which of the two you actually have.