Core Concepts
Agile
Definition: An iterative approach to software delivery that organizes work into short cycles (sprints), emphasizes user feedback, and ships small, frequent releases. It reduces risk and keeps scope adaptable as you learn.
Why it matters: Cuts time-to-value while keeping quality high.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: Wikipedia – Agile software development
API
Definition: An interface that exposes data or functions so systems can communicate securely and predictably. APIs enable integrations, modular architectures, and multi-channel apps.
Why it matters: Connects your product to payments, analytics, CRM/ERP, and mobile.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: REST API, web API
External reference: Wikipedia – Application programming interface
Core Web Vitals
Definition: Google UX metrics—LCP, CLS, INP—that quantify loading speed, visual stability, and responsiveness for real users.
Why it matters: Better vitals boost user experience and discoverability.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: CWV
Internal targets:
- Custom Software Development — (frontend performance; optimization services; web app speed)
- Blog — (performance tuning; CWV improvements; UX engineering)
- Case Studies — (performance outcomes; faster pages; UX results)
External reference: web.dev – Core Web Vitals
Domain-Driven Design
Definition: Design software around the business domain using a shared vocabulary, bounded contexts, and aggregates so the model stays clean and evolvable.
Why it matters: Reduces complexity and aligns code with real workflows.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: DDD
External reference: Wikipedia – Domain-driven design
Event-Driven Architecture
Definition: Services publish and react to events asynchronously via brokers/streams, decoupling producers and consumers and improving scalability and resilience.
Why it matters: Enables real-time features and fault isolation.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: EDA
External reference: Wikipedia – Event-driven architecture
GraphQL
Definition: A query language/runtime for APIs where clients request exactly the data they need, reducing over/under-fetching compared to REST.
Why it matters: Simplifies complex clients and speeds features.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: graphql.org – GraphQL
Headless CMS
Definition: A CMS that exposes content via APIs without a coupled front end, enabling web, mobile, and IoT delivery from one backend.
Why it matters: Speeds multi-channel publishing and modern stacks.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Decoupled CMS
External reference: Wikipedia – Headless CMS
Microservices
Definition: Build applications as small, independently deployable services that communicate via APIs. Each service owns a capability and its data.
Why it matters: Increases scalability and team autonomy.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: Wikipedia – Microservices
Minimum Viable Product
Definition: The smallest product that delivers core value and validates assumptions with minimal effort; focuses on outcomes over feature breadth.
Why it matters: Proves demand and de-risks early investment.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: MVP
External reference: Wikipedia – Minimum viable product
Progressive Web App
Definition: A web app with offline, installability, and push capabilities that delivers app-like experiences without app-store installation.
Why it matters: Reduces friction and speeds multi-device delivery.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: PWA
External reference: MDN – Progressive Web Apps
RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
Definition: An AI pattern that retrieves relevant knowledge (e.g., from a vector DB) and conditions the model's generation on that context to improve accuracy and freshness.
Why it matters: Reduces hallucinations and keeps outputs on-brand.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Retrieval-augmented generation
External reference: Wikipedia – Retrieval-augmented generation
Serverless
Definition: Cloud execution where functions/managed services scale automatically with per-use billing; no server management required.
Why it matters: Cuts ops overhead for bursty workloads.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: FaaS, Functions
External reference: Wikipedia – Serverless computing
Tech Stack
Definition: The set of languages, frameworks, and tools used to build and run your product (e.g., React, Next.js, Node.js, Postgres, Docker, Kubernetes).
Why it matters: The right stack balances speed, cost, and scale.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Technology stack, stack
External reference: —
Process/Workflow
Backlog Refinement
Definition: Regularly clarifying, splitting, sizing, and prioritizing backlog items so work is "ready" for upcoming sprints.
Why it matters: Maintains flow and predictable delivery.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Grooming
External reference: —
CI/CD
Definition: Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery/Deployment automate integration, testing, and releases to ship safely and frequently.
Why it matters: Faster features with fewer regressions.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: Wikipedia – CI; Wikipedia – CD
Definition of Done
Definition: A shared checklist that states when a backlog item is complete—code, tests, security checks, docs, and acceptance criteria.
Why it matters: Aligns expectations and prevents rework.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: DoD
External reference: —
Discovery Workshop
Definition: A short, facilitated engagement to clarify goals, users, constraints, and success metrics; outputs lean scope, UX flows, and a delivery plan.
Why it matters: Reduces uncertainty before build.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Inception; product discovery
External reference: —
Incident Management
Definition: Detect, triage, mitigate, and learn from production issues to restore service quickly and prevent recurrence.
Why it matters: Protects uptime and trust.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: IM, on-call
External reference: —
Post-Incident Review
Definition: A blameless analysis after an incident capturing timeline, root causes, user impact, and actions to prevent recurrence.
Why it matters: Turns outages into durable improvements.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Postmortem, PIR
External reference: —
QA (Quality Assurance)
Definition: Planned activities preventing defects and validating behavior—unit, integration, end-to-end, performance, and security testing.
Why it matters: Protects UX and lowers rework cost.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Software testing
External reference: ISTQB – Software Testing (concept)
Sprint
Definition: A fixed-length iteration (often 1–2 weeks) where teams commit to prioritized work and deliver a potentially shippable increment.
Why it matters: Provides cadence and predictable progress.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Iteration
External reference: —
User Story
Definition: A small, user-centered requirement written as "As a [user], I want [capability] so that [benefit]," usually with acceptance criteria.
Why it matters: Keeps scope focused on user value.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: —
Tools/Software
Docker
Definition: Containerize code and dependencies into portable images for consistent runtime behavior across environments.
Why it matters: Simplifies deployment and onboarding.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: Docker Docs – What is Docker
GitHub Actions
Definition: CI/CD service integrated with GitHub that runs workflows on pushes/PRs/schedules to build, test, and deploy code.
Why it matters: Keeps automation close to the repo.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: GHA
External reference: GitHub Docs – Actions
Kubernetes
Definition: Orchestrates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized apps across clusters.
Why it matters: Enables resilient, scalable platforms.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: K8s
External reference: Kubernetes.io – Concepts
Next.js
Definition: React framework for hybrid rendering (SSR/SSG), routing, API routes, and performance features that speed modern web app delivery.
Why it matters: Improves UX, SEO, and developer velocity.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: Next.js – Official docs
Node.js
Definition: JavaScript runtime built on V8 for fast network apps; common for APIs, real-time services, and SSR.
Why it matters: Unifies front-end/back-end skills.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: nodejs.org – About
PostgreSQL
Definition: Open-source relational database known for reliability, strong SQL, and extensions like PostGIS.
Why it matters: Solid foundation for transactional workloads.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Postgres
External reference: postgresql.org – About
React
Definition: Front-end library for building UIs using components and declarative rendering; commonly paired with Next.js for SSR/SSG.
Why it matters: Speeds UI delivery for complex apps.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: react.dev – React
React Native
Definition: Framework for building native iOS/Android apps using React while rendering native UI components.
Why it matters: Cuts cost/time for multi-platform apps.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: reactnative.dev – Introduction
Redis
Definition: In-memory data store used for caching, queues, sessions, and real-time counters with sub-millisecond latency.
Why it matters: Slashes read latency and offloads databases.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: redis.io – Redis
Terraform
Definition: Infrastructure-as-Code tool for declaring and provisioning cloud resources reproducibly across environments.
Why it matters: Improves consistency, auditability, and speed.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: IaC
External reference: HashiCorp – Terraform
AI/Data
Embeddings
Definition: Numeric vector representations of text, images, or other data that capture semantic meaning, enabling similarity search, clustering, and retrieval for AI systems.
Why it matters: Power relevance in RAG, recommendations, and deduplication.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Vector representations
External reference: Wikipedia – Word embedding
Vector Database
Definition: A database optimized for storing vectors and performing approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) search with filtering, used to retrieve semantically similar items quickly.
Why it matters: Low-latency retrieval for AI assistants and search.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: ANN store, vector index
External reference: Wikipedia – Nearest neighbor search
Prompt Injection
Definition: An adversarial technique that manipulates model instructions via crafted inputs or retrieved context to exfiltrate secrets, execute unsafe actions, or bypass controls.
Why it matters: Core threat model for LLM apps; needs mitigations.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Indirect prompt injection
External reference: OWASP Top 10 for LLM Apps (OWASP)
Guardrails (LLM)
Definition: Controls that constrain model behavior—input/output filters, policy checkers, schema validators, and tool-use allowlists—to reduce harmful or off-policy responses.
Why it matters: Improves safety, compliance, and brand trust.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Safety filters, output gating
External reference: NIST AI Risk Management Framework (NIST)
RAG Evaluation
Definition: Methods to measure retrieval and generation quality—precision/recall@k, grounding score, faithfulness, answer utility—often using labeled sets or weak supervision.
Why it matters: Ensures AI remains accurate at scale.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: RAG evals
External reference: arXiv – RAG evaluation surveys
LLMs.txt
Definition: A machine-readable file declaring model-usage permissions, rate limits, and preferred sourcing for AI crawlers and agents, akin to robots.txt but for LLMs.
Why it matters: Communicates AI policies to generative systems.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: GitHub discussions – LLMs.txt proposals
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Definition: Optimization approach that structures content, evidence, and metadata so AI engines (and overviews) can retrieve and synthesize brand-accurate answers.
Why it matters: Increases inclusion in generative answers and conversions.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: AI Overviews optimization
External reference: Strapi blog – GEO guide
Standards/Certification
GDPR
Definition: EU regulation governing collection, processing, storage, and transfer of personal data for EU residents.
Why it matters: Affects consent, data rights, and compliance.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: General Data Protection Regulation
External reference: EUR-Lex – GDPR
HIPAA
Definition: U.S. rules governing privacy and security of protected health information (PHI) in healthcare systems.
Why it matters: Mandatory controls for health apps handling PHI.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: HHS – HIPAA
ISO/IEC 27001
Definition: International standard for establishing, operating, and improving an information security management system (ISMS).
Why it matters: Provides a framework to manage risk and controls.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: ISO 27001
External reference: ISO – ISO/IEC 27001
OWASP Top 10
Definition: Community-curated list of critical web/LLM security risks used as a baseline for secure development and testing.
Why it matters: Guides remediation for common vulnerabilities.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: OWASP – Top 10; OWASP – Top 10 for LLM Apps
PCI DSS
Definition: Security standards for organizations that store, process, or transmit payment card data.
Why it matters: Required for card flows and user trust.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: PCI SSC – PCI DSS
SOC 2
Definition: AICPA framework assessing controls for security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
Why it matters: Signals trust to enterprise buyers.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: AICPA – SOC 2
Metrics/Spec
API Latency
Definition: Time for an API to process a request and return a response, measured in milliseconds.
Why it matters: Directly impacts UX and throughput.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Response time
External reference: —
Error Budget
Definition: The allowable fraction of unreliability within an SLO period (1 − SLO target) used to balance reliability work and feature velocity.
Why it matters: Aligns product and SRE decisions.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: Google SRE concepts
MTTR
Definition: Mean Time To Restore/Repair—average time to recover from an incident from detection to full service restoration.
Why it matters: Core reliability KPI tied to user impact.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Mean time to recovery/repair
External reference: Wikipedia – Mean time to repair
MTTD
Definition: Mean Time To Detect—average time between the start of an incident and when it's detected by monitoring or users.
Why it matters: Earlier detection reduces impact.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: —
External reference: —
Service Level Agreement
Definition: Contractually defined service levels (e.g., uptime, response times) and remedies if unmet; guides operational readiness and monitoring.
Why it matters: Aligns expectations and support.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: SLA
External reference: Wikipedia – Service-level agreement
Throughput
Definition: The volume of work a system processes per unit time (e.g., requests/sec), often constrained by CPU, I/O, or external dependencies.
Why it matters: Drives capacity planning and cost.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: RPS, QPS
External reference: —
Company-Specific
Dedicated Developer Model
Definition: Engineers work as an extension of your team on a monthly basis, aligned to your roadmap, processes, and tooling.
Why it matters: Increases velocity and focuses spend on value.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Staff augmentation, extended team
External reference: —
Discovery Sprint
Definition: A time-boxed engagement (1–2 weeks) to validate problem–solution fit, map user journeys, and produce a prioritized MVP scope with estimates.
Why it matters: Aligns stakeholders and de-risks builds.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Product sprint, scoping sprint
External reference: —
Technology Audit
Definition: Rapid review of architecture, code quality, security, and delivery practices yielding a remediation roadmap and quick wins.
Why it matters: Surfaces risk and unlocks velocity.
Synonyms/Abbreviations: Tech assessment
External reference: —