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Practical tools, no jargon
A template to help you brief any software team, and a glossary of the terms you will hear along the way.
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Project brief template
A Markdown template covering goals, users, scope, constraints, success measures and open questions. Fill it in before you speak to any software team, including us.
Format: Markdown (.md), opens in any text editor.
Glossary
IT, Web3 and AI terms
Short, plain-English definitions. Search or filter by category.
34 of 34 terms
- AgileProcess
- An approach that delivers software in short iterations and adapts the plan based on feedback.
- APIWeb & Software
- Application Programming Interface. A defined way for one piece of software to request data or actions from another.
- BackendWeb & Software
- The server-side part of an application that stores data, applies business rules and exposes APIs.
- BlockchainWeb3
- A shared, append-only ledger maintained by many participants, where records are linked and hard to alter after the fact.
- CI/CDCloud & DevOps
- Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery. Automation that builds, tests and releases code changes frequently and reliably.
- ContainerCloud & DevOps
- A packaged unit of software that includes its dependencies so it runs the same way across environments. Docker is a common tool.
- dAppWeb3
- Decentralised application. An app whose back-end logic runs on a blockchain through smart contracts.
- DevOpsCloud & DevOps
- A set of practices and culture that brings development and operations together to ship and run software reliably.
- Discovery phaseProcess
- An initial period of research and scoping used to clarify requirements, risks and a realistic plan before building.
- EmbeddingAI
- A list of numbers representing the meaning of a piece of text or other data, used to find similar items.
- Encryption at rest / in transitSecurity
- Protecting data with encryption while it is stored (at rest) and while it moves across a network (in transit).
- FrontendWeb & Software
- The part of an application that runs in the user's browser or device and handles what they see and interact with.
- Gas feeWeb3
- The fee paid to the network to process a transaction or run a smart contract, for example on Ethereum.
- GraphQLWeb & Software
- A query language for APIs that lets the client specify exactly which fields it needs in a single request.
- HallucinationAI
- When a language model produces fluent but incorrect or unsupported information.
- Infrastructure as codeCloud & DevOps
- Managing servers and cloud resources through version-controlled configuration files instead of manual setup.
- KubernetesCloud & DevOps
- An open-source system for deploying, scaling and managing containerised applications across a cluster of machines.
- LatencyCloud & DevOps
- The delay between a request being sent and a response beginning to arrive.
- Least privilegeSecurity
- Giving users and systems only the minimum access they need to do their job.
- LLMAI
- Large Language Model. A neural network trained on large amounts of text that can generate and transform language.
- MVPProcess
- Minimum Viable Product. The smallest version of a product that delivers real value and lets you learn from actual users.
- NDASecurity
- Non-Disclosure Agreement. A contract in which parties agree to keep specified information confidential.
- Penetration testSecurity
- An authorised, simulated attack on a system to find security weaknesses before real attackers do.
- PromptAI
- The input instructions and context given to a language model.
- RAGAI
- Retrieval-Augmented Generation. Fetching relevant documents first and giving them to a language model so its answer is grounded in that text.
- RESTWeb & Software
- An API style where resources are addressed by URLs and manipulated with standard HTTP methods such as GET, POST, PUT and DELETE.
- RPC nodeWeb3
- A blockchain node that exposes a remote procedure call interface so applications can read chain data and submit transactions.
- SaaSWeb & Software
- Software as a Service. Software hosted by a provider and used by customers over the internet, usually on a subscription.
- SLAProcess
- Service Level Agreement. A written commitment about the level of service, such as response times or availability.
- Smart contractWeb3
- A program stored on a blockchain that executes automatically when its conditions are met. Once deployed it is often difficult to change.
- SprintProcess
- A fixed, short period (commonly one to four weeks) in which a team completes a planned set of work.
- Technical debtProcess
- The future cost created when shortcuts are taken in code or design; like financial debt, it accrues interest until it is repaid.
- Two-factor authenticationSecurity
- Requiring two different proofs of identity to sign in, such as a password and a code from an authenticator app.
- WalletWeb3
- Software or hardware that holds the cryptographic keys used to sign blockchain transactions and prove ownership of assets.
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