The beauty of Microsoft Project and other Project Management software is that you don't really have to be a project manager to make use of them for many tasks at work. If Project has come with an Office package that you've bought, or it's on your work computer but you don't think your role is conducive to using it, think again.

One of the only barriers to using the program is the jargon, or "project management speak". If talk of budgets, baselines and Gantt Charts makes you incredibly confused (or just plain scared!), never fear - once you understand the terms, you can understand the way the project is set out and delivered with the help of software. Here are a few of these examples of PM lingo, and a brief translation.

To explain them fully, we'll use the example of designing a website for a small business.

Baseline Project: The baseline is the "skeleton" of the project. In our example, this can be broken down into a few key components. The start and end dates (the end being your deadline), how much it's going to cost (according to your budget), and the tasks (in this case, probably creating a rough plan of the site, gathering the materials to go on it, hiring a web designer, paying for the hosting, then finally launching the site). The baseline can be consulted when you need a quick reminder of the task summary.

Deliverable: This is a result that must be achieved in order for the project to be completed. The website itself may be a deliverable in the company's to-do list for one particular year. The project itself will consist of smaller deliverables - the website designer has one in his task to hand over the completed website to you.

Dependents, or task Dependency: Very often, one task relies on another in order to be done. You need the web designer to finish the project, but you also need to provide him or her with any pictures or text you want on the site in order for it to be included. Also, you cannot put the website online without paying for the hosting. These kind of interlinked tasks are dependent on each other - one cannot function as a standalone part of the project.

Gantt Charts: Although it sounds technical, this is just another way of viewing the project and how they are interlinked. One side will usually show the list of tasks that the project has, the other opposing side will show durations or deadlines for those tasks. Like the Baseline, it's a quick and easy way to get a snapshot of your project and see the outline of it clearly.

Milestones: These are parts of the project, a bit like stepping stones, that you can use to mark the end of one particular part of the project and on to another. They're often used to boost morale in a team when they pass them. In our example, a milestone will be getting together all the information the web designer wants, because then your life gets easier when you pass it to them. The biggest milestone is, of course, the completion of the project.

Phases: These are similar to milestones, but understood by most people, if only from the movie industry! The website designer will have phase one (coding), phase two (inserting graphics) and so on. You will have your own phases to go through - of course, you know that saying in common conversation.

Stakeholders: These are people who are depending on the project and who have a vested interest in it. The first and major one would be the company itself. If you have shareholders, they are stakeholders, as the name suggests.

There's a lot of other jargon and complicated language in the realm of Project Management, but an understanding of the basics should set you on your way to both understanding the language and the software. Aside from that, there's always a business dictionary and a bit of Googling, but whatever you do - don't let lack of knowledge about the language prevent you from having a go with one of the most useful pieces of software available to you!