In the sphere of project management, the term precedence relationship follows the fairly typical pattern of viewing what came first to determine what should come next. Specifically speaking, when the project management team and or the project management team leader begins the process of developing and d3etermining the ultimate design of the precedence diagramming method that will be utilized over the course of the project, the term precedence relationship is exactly what the project management team and or the project management team leader uses to represent the term of logical relationship. There is, however, a slightly altered usage in current project management terminology. In current usage, the multiple terms of logical relationship, precedence relationship, and dependency are used in an extremely interchangeable manner, and often times, the particular diagramming method that is being utilized is not the deciding factor in deciding which of these to use.
This term is defined in the 3rd and the 4th edition of the PMBOK.