The deck: formulas, scheduling, roles, agile and analysis
Formulas come first, then scheduling, risk and roles, agile, and business analysis. Answer out loud before opening a card. If the answer comes out as a paragraph, the card goes back in the pile.
Card 01Cost variance (CV): formula and reading
CV = EV − AC. Negative means over budget, positive means under.
Card 02Schedule variance (SV): formula and reading
SV = EV − PV. Negative means behind schedule.
Card 03Cost performance index (CPI)
CPI = EV / AC. Below 1.0, each dollar spent is buying less than a dollar of planned work.
Card 04Schedule performance index (SPI)
SPI = EV / PV. Below 1.0, work is being completed more slowly than planned.
Card 05Estimate at completion (EAC) if current cost performance continues
EAC = BAC / CPI, where BAC is the budget at completion.
Card 06PV, EV and AC, one line each
Planned value: budgeted cost of the work scheduled to date. Earned value: budgeted cost of the work actually done. Actual cost: what that work really cost.
Card 07Critical path
The longest chain of dependent activities through the schedule network. It sets the shortest possible project duration, and its activities normally have zero total float.
Card 08Total float vs free float
Total float: how long an activity can slip without moving the project end date. Free float: how long it can slip without delaying the next activity.
Card 09Milestone
A significant point or event with zero duration. Activities take time; a milestone marks that something is finished.
Card 10Crashing vs fast tracking
Crashing adds resources to critical-path activities and usually adds cost. Fast tracking overlaps activities planned in sequence and usually adds risk.
Card 11Work breakdown structure (WBS) and the 100% rule
The WBS decomposes the whole scope into deliverables, down to work packages at the lowest level. The 100% rule: each element’s children add up to all of its work and nothing outside it.
Card 12Risk vs issue
A risk is uncertain and in the future; it goes in the risk register. An issue is happening now; it goes in the issue log.
Card 13Assumption vs constraint
An assumption is taken as true for planning without proof. A constraint is a known limit, such as a fixed budget, date or resource.
Card 14Responses to a threat
Avoid, transfer, mitigate, accept, escalate.
Card 15Responses to an opportunity
Exploit, share, enhance, accept, escalate.
Card 16Project vs program vs portfolio
Project: temporary effort, unique result. Program: related projects managed together for benefits they would not deliver separately. Portfolio: projects, programs and operations grouped to meet strategic objectives.
Card 17RACI letters
Responsible does the work. Accountable owns the result, one person per task. Consulted gives input before. Informed hears after.
Card 18Tuckman’s stages of team development
Forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning.
Card 19Push, pull and interactive communication
Push: sent to recipients, such as email or a memo. Pull: recipients fetch it from an intranet or repository. Interactive: real-time exchange, such as meetings and calls.
Card 20Scrum accountabilities
Product owner: maximizes value and orders the backlog. Scrum master: coaches the process and removes impediments. Developers: build the increment.
Card 21Sprint review vs sprint retrospective
Review: the team and stakeholders inspect the increment. Retrospective: the team inspects how it worked and picks improvements.
Card 22Work-in-progress (WIP) limit
A cap on how many items may sit in a workflow state at once. On a Kanban board it exposes bottlenecks and keeps flow steady.
Card 23Burndown vs burnup chart
Burndown: work remaining over time. Burnup: work completed against a separate total-scope line, so scope changes stay visible.
Card 24Definition of done vs acceptance criteria
Definition of done: the quality bar for every item. Acceptance criteria: the conditions for one specific item.
Card 25MoSCoW
Must have, Should have, Could have, Won’t have this time: four priority groups for a stated release.
Card 26MVP vs MMF
Minimum viable product: the smallest version that tests a hypothesis with real users. Minimum marketable feature: the smallest piece of functionality worth releasing on its own.
Card 27Verification vs validation
Verification: was it built as specified, checked internally. Validation: does it meet the need, confirmed with the customer or stakeholders.
Card 28Forward vs backward traceability
Forward: requirement → design, build and test. Backward: deliverable → the requirement and objective that justify it.
Card 29OPA vs EEF
Organizational process assets: the organization’s own templates, procedures and lessons learned. Enterprise environmental factors: conditions the team does not control, such as regulation, market and culture.
Card 30Story points
A relative, unitless size estimate that folds together effort, complexity and uncertainty. Comparable within one team, meaningless between teams.
Using the deck without fooling yourself
Run the deck in both directions. Reading a definition and naming the term is a different kind of recall from reading the term and producing the definition, and exam questions mostly do the first in disguise: they describe a situation and expect you to recognize which concept it is.
A card you can recite is not yet a card you can apply. Once a card feels easy, test it on the CAPM practice test, where each option carries a note on why it is right or wrong.
Spread the cards across a schedule instead of one long evening. The CAPM study plan pairs each week with its topic pages, and the deck works as a five-minute warm-up before each sitting.
Pairs that get mixed up most
- Risk register vs issue log
- Uncertain and future goes in the register; happening now goes in the log. See risks, issues and planned responses.
- Accountable vs responsible
- One person is accountable for a task; several can be responsible for doing it. See the cards on roles, leadership and ethics.
- WIP limit vs timebox
- Kanban caps work in progress; Scrum caps time. See agile fit and frameworks.
- Burnup vs burndown
- The burnup draws scope as its own line; on a burndown, added work can hide inside the slope. See iterations, backlog and agile tracking.