Name two common project management artifacts and briefly describe them.

• A. Project plan (timeline, milestones) and risk log (identified risks and mitigations).
• B. Stakeholder register and change log.
• C. Test plan and deployment guide.
• D. Budget forecast and issue tracker.

Answer: (A)

In project management, artifacts are formal documents that guide and control work. The two common ones are the project plan and the risk log. The project plan serves as a roadmap, laying out the scope, schedule, resources, roles, and responsibilities, with the timeline and milestones showing what needs to be achieved and when. This helps everyone coordinate activities and provides a baseline to measure progress. The risk log captures potential threats to the project, notes their probability and impact, assigns owners, and documents planned mitigations or contingency actions; it’s a living record used to monitor and respond to issues before they derail the plan.

Other options include items like a stakeholder register and change log, which are important for governance and communication; a test plan and deployment guide, which focus on testing and releasing the product; or a budget forecast paired with an issue tracker, which mix financial planning with problem management. While these are useful, the combination of a project plan and a risk log best represents the core planning and proactive risk-management artifacts that teams rely on to start and steer a project.