Although we try to communicate with our clients as clearly as possible, sometimes we cannot avoid industry terms. We’ve prepared a list of the most commonly used terms and abbreviations you’re guaranteed to encounter in the world of software development.
| Term | Explanation |
| Agile | An iterative approach to delivering a project throughout its life cycle. |
| API | Application Program Interface. How computers and applications communicate with one another. |
| Azure | Cloud platform by Microsoft. Used to create, host and scale web applications through Microsoft data centres. |
| Backend | All of the behind-the-scenes digital operations that it takes to keep the front end of a website running, such as the coding, style, and plugins. |
| Backlog grooming | Review and prioritization of backlog in order to keep it up-to-date and ready for next sprint planning. |
| Bug | Error in software behaviour. |
| Burndown chart | A chart that shows the amount of work that remains in a backlog. |
| Business analysis | Process of identifying business needs and finding solutions to business problems. |
| Cloud | Servers accessed over the internet. The software and database also runs on the servers. |
| Cone of uncertainty | It graphically describes the reduction of uncertainty about scope after each sprint is finished. |
| CSS | Cascading style sheets. Used for styling websites (font, color, content format). |
| Definition of Done | Shared understanding of expectations that the increment must live up to to be releasable into production. |
| Demo | Demonstration of working increment. |
| DevOps | Development Operations. System of working that helps to keep development, IT operations, and quality assurance departments on the same page to make for better end-products and collaborations. |
| Dot voting | Estimating technique based on votes cumulation. |
| Epic | Body of work broken down to single user stories and tasks. |
| Favicon | Short for favorite icon, it’s the icon that appears in your website’s browser tab. |
| Feature | Functionality of software. |
| Frontend | The part of the website or app that the user sees. |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol. Method of exchanging files from one computer to another. This is also how websites are uploaded to the Internet. |
| Full-stack | Developer who has knowledge of both frontend and backend. |
| Gannt chart | Visualization of sequential development used for Waterfall projects. |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface. The image of how a website is laid out and meant to be interacted with. In website design, this is how everything will ideally look in layout. |
| High-fidelity design | Design that looks as close as possible to the final design. |
| HTML | Hypertext Markup Language. The coding language used to build a website in terms of both form and function. |
| Hybrid project management | An approach employing waterfall for planning on high-level perspective and agile for executing the development. |
| IKIWISI | I know when I see it. A principle clients often use when collecting requirements. |
| Increment | Scrum Artifact that defines the complete and valuable work produced by the development team during a sprint. The sum of all increments forms a product. |
| JIRA | Software for managing software projects. |
| Kanban | An agile approach using visualization of tasks status (board). |
| Kanban board | Visual workflow tool consisting of multiple columns. Each column represents a different stage in the workflow process. |
| Kano model | Approach for prioritizing product features based on the degree to which they are likely to satisfy customers. |
| KISS | Keep it simple, stupid. A principle for guiding complex projects. |
| Low-fidelity design | Simple design not including user interaction. Quicker to create. |
| Microservice | It is one of the variants of service-oriented software architecture, where applications are defined as a set of loosely coupled services. |
| Milestone | Important event or subgoal in development. |
| MMP | Minimum marketable product (meets customers’ needs). |
| Mock ups | High-fidelity render of product’s design. |
| MVP | Minimum viable product (validates idea). |
| Poker planning | Consensus-based technique for time estimates. |
| Product backlog | Ordered list of the work to be done to create, maintain, and sustain a product. |
| Product backlog refinement | Activity in a Sprint through which the Product Owner and the Development Teams add granularity to the Product Backlog. |
| Product owner | Scrum role that manages product backlog and defines user stories. Represents client’s interests. |
| Product sponsor | Person responsible for communicating and defining the functionalities of the software and acting on behalf of the Client. |
| Project | Set of objectives to be accomplished in a fixed time. Every project is unique. |
| Project management | Application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet project requirements. |
| Proposal | Document containing time and price estimate of the product, Siesta team and our approach to development. |
| Release | Distribution of the newest version of the software. |
| Repository | Central place where data and code is stored. They are organized and maintained. |
| Requirement | Description of what the user wants to do and how. |
| Roadmap | High-level visual summary that maps out the vision and direction of your product over time. |
| SaaS | Software as a service. The most basic of cloud platforms; allows users to share files and collaborate on projects through their browser. |
| Scrum | Scrum is a project management framework, building on agile. It is mechanism to optimize and guide changes. |
| Scrum ceremonies | Events that help to manage the development and improve team collaboration. |
| Scrum master | Role within scrum team accountable for guiding, coaching, teaching, and assisting a scrum team and its environments in a proper understanding and use of Scrum. |
| Scrum values | A set of fundamental values and qualities underpinning the Scrum framework; commitment, focus, openness, respect, and courage. |
| SEO | Search engine optimization. Process of attracting users to a website via organic search. |
| Sitemap | Outline of all pages on a website, organized in hierarchical order. |
| SLA | Service level agreement. Refers to the contract negotiated between the software vendor provider and the client. |
| Slack | App for team communication. Very popular in modern companies. |
| Sprint | Usually a two-weeks long period of time in which the scrum team works to complete the amount of work set at the sprint planning. |
| Sprint backlog | Provides an overview of the development work to realize a Sprint’s goal. |
| Sprint planning | The work you need to do before starting a sprint. First, you set a sprint goal, then the scrum team selects the product backlog items that will contribute to the goal. |
| Sprint retrospective | Scrum ceremony focused on improving scrum team collaboration. |
| Sprint review | Scrum ceremony focused on assessing sprint and learning from it. |
| Standup | Regular meeting of the team sharing what they did, plan on doing and if anything blocks them from doing what they plan. |
| Steering meeting | Meeting of high-level executives and project manager to set the direction of a project and provide strategic oversight. |
| Story point | Measure used in agile project management and development to estimate the difficulty of implementing a given user story. |
| Task | The smallest unit of work, ideally, lasting at most one workday |
| UI | User Interface. The visual elements that go into a website or app. |
| User story | Short, informal, plain language description of what a user wants to do within a software product. |
| UX | User Experience. A user’s interaction with an interface with a focus on how satisfying and successful the experience is. The function to complement UI’s form. |
| Waterfall | Sequential methodology proceeding in clearly defined phases. |
| Web copy | Copywriting for a website. |
| Web design | Web design focuses on organizing content on a website. Today it includes both graphics and web functionality. |
| Wireframe | The bare bones structure of a website. No fonts, colors, or images, this layout is the first step to making sure that the foundation is sound before content is added. |
| WYSIWYG | What you see is what you get. A visual content editor that allows you to modify content in your website without needing to know HTML. You see the change you made directly on the content. |
| YAGNI | You’re not gonna need it. A principle that states that the Scrum Team should not add features to the product until deemed necessary. |
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
| ASAP | As Soon As Possible |
| AV | Audio Visual or Antivirus |
| BA | Business Analysis or Business Analyst |
| BAU | Business As Usual |
| BC | Business Case |
| CRM | Customer Relationship Management |
| DEV | Development or Development environment |
| DIB | Discovery Initiation Brief |
| OS | Operating System |
| PM | Project Manager or Project Management |
| PMP | Project Management Plan |
| PO | Purchase Order |
| POC | Proof of Concept |
| PROD | Production or Production Environment |
| RFI | Request for Information |
| SEO | Search Engine Optimization |
| SLA | Service Level Agreement |
| SOW | Statement of Work or Scope of Work |
| TBA | To be Added |
| TBC | To Be Confirmed |
| TBD | To Be Defined |
Do you know of a term or abbreviation that’s unclear to you, but you didn’t find it in the list? We’d be happy to hear about it and add it to our glossary, hopefully helping someone else.
