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Project Management vocabulary · Schedule & Time

Push back

Meaning in project management, with examples

/ˌpʊʃ ˈbæk/phrasal verbCommon term

In project management, push back means: To move a meeting, deadline or event to a later time. In another common sense, it means to resist or argue against a request or decision.

In Turkish: ertelemek, ileri bir tarihe almak, itiraz etmek

How it is used

Both meanings are frequent in project work: “We had to push back the launch” (delay) and “The client pushed back on the price” (resisted). The noun is pushback: “We got some pushback from the sales team.”

Example sentences

  1. Can we push back the review meeting to Thursday? The test results won't be ready until Wednesday.

  2. The team pushed back on the new deadline because it didn't include time for testing.

Common collocations

  • push back the deadline
  • push back the launch
  • push back on
  • get pushback
  • slipOf a date, task or schedule: to move later than planned, usually little by little and often without anyone formally deciding it.
  • deadlineThe latest date or time by which a task, deliverable or project must be finished.
  • behind scheduleLater than planned; not progressing as fast as the schedule says it should.
  • manage expectationsTo make sure that clients, sponsors or users have a realistic idea of what will be delivered, when and at what quality, so they are not disappointed later.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Schedule & Time

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