Product Glossary

A comprehensive glossary of terms related to Product Management, User Experience, Engineering, and Leadership.

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4 Ds of Time Management

A strategy to help you prioritize tasks and manage your time more effectively.

Leadership Product Management

5 Whys

The 5 Whys is a problem-solving technique used to identify the root cause of a problem by asking "why" five times.

Engineering User Experience Product Management

A

A/B Testing

A method of comparing two versions of a web page or app to determine which one performs better.

Engineering

AARRR Pirate Metrics Framework

A framework for measuring the success of a business by tracking five key metrics: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, and Revenue.

User Experience Product Management

Acceptance Criteria

The conditions that must be met for a product, service, or system to be accepted by a customer, end user, or other stakeholder

Engineering Product Management

Acceptance Test

A type of software testing that verifies whether a system meets the requirements of the customer.

Engineering Product Management

Acceptance Test Driven Development

Acceptance Test Driven Development is a software development methodology that uses acceptance tests to drive the development process.

Engineering Product Management

Action Priority Matrix

A Priority Matrix is a tool used to prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance.

Engineering Product Management

Adaptive Software Development (ASD)

Adaptive Software Development is an agile software development methodology that emphasizes rapid response to changing customer requirements.

Engineering

Affinity Diagram

A tool used to organize ideas and data into related groups to help identify patterns and relationships.

Engineering Leadership User Experience Product Management

Affinity Group

A group of people who share a common interest, background, or identity.

Leadership

Affinity Grouping

A user research and customer segmentation method grouping individuals based on common interests or characteristics.

User Experience Engineering Leadership Product Management

Agile Definition of Done

A set of criteria that must be met before a product or feature is considered complete and ready for delivery.

Engineering Product Management Leadership

Agile Framework

A set of principles and practices that enable teams to deliver high-quality products quickly and efficiently.

Engineering Product Management Leadership

Agile Manifesto

A set of principles for software development that emphasize collaboration, customer feedback, and iterative development.

Engineering Leadership Product Management

Agile Principles

A set of values and practices that emphasize collaboration, customer feedback, and iterative development to create high-quality, adaptive software solutions.

Engineering Leadership

Agile Product Development

A methodology that focuses on delivering high-quality products quickly and efficiently through iterative cycles of planning, development, and testing.

Product Management Engineering Leadership

Agile Product Owner

A role responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of a development team.

Product Management Leadership

Agile Program Management Office

An organizational unit responsible for overseeing the implementation of Agile project management practices.

Product Management Leadership

Agile Release Train

A long-term, cross-functional team that plans, builds, and delivers a continuous flow of value through a series of fixed-length iterations.

Engineering Leadership

Agile Roadmap

A visual representation of a product's development timeline that is flexible and adaptable to changing customer needs.

Product Management Leadership

Agile Teams

Cross-functional teams that use an iterative and incremental approach to quickly deliver high-quality products.

Engineering Leadership

Agile Values

A set of principles that emphasize collaboration, customer feedback, and continuous improvement in software development.

Leadership Engineering Product Management

Alpha Testing

The first stage of software testing, where a limited number of users test the product for functionality and usability.

Engineering Product Management User Experience

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

A measure of the expected revenue from a customer over a 12-month period.

Product Management Leadership

Assumption Mapping

A technique used to identify and analyze assumptions underlying a problem or decision.

Engineering Product Management

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

A measure of the average income generated from each user of a service or product.

Leadership Product Management

B

Backlog

A collection of tasks that need to be completed

Product Management Engineering

Backlog Epic

A large body of work that can be broken down into smaller stories and tasks in an agile setting.

Product Management Engineering

Backlog Grooming

The process of reviewing and refining the items in a backlog to ensure they are ready for development.

Product Management Engineering

Backlog Refinement

The process of breaking down user stories into smaller, more manageable tasks to help prioritize and plan a project.

Product Management Engineering

Baseline Solution Investments (BSIs)

Investments made in a basic or minimum viable version of a digital product as a starting point for future development.

Engineering Product Management

Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)

A software development process that focuses on the collaboration between developers, testers, and business stakeholders to ensure that the software meets the needs of the customer.

Engineering

Behavioral Product Management

The practice of using data-driven insights to inform product decisions and optimize user experience.

Product Management User Experience Leadership

Benefit Hypothesis

A concept that suggests that people are more likely to accept a change if they can see the potential benefits it will bring.

Engineering Product Management User Experience

Beta Plan

A business strategy that involves releasing a product to a limited number of users in order to test and refine it before launching it to the general public.

Engineering Product Management

Beta Testing

The process of testing a product or service by real users before its official release.

Engineering Product Management

Big Visible Information Radiator (BVIR)

A visual display of project information that is easily accessible and visible to all stakeholders.

Engineering Product Management

Bill of Materials (BOM)

A list of the components and materials needed to assemble a product.

Engineering

Boulders, Stones, Pebbles

A concept that prioritizes tasks based on their size and complexity for efficient and effective completion.

Engineering Product Management

Bugs

Unintended and unexpected behavior or errors in software or digital products, caused by faults in the code, which can impact the functionality or performance of the system

Engineering

Built-In Quality

The process of verifying that a product or service meets the established standards of quality.

Engineering Product Management

Burn-Up Chart

A graphical representation of the progress of a project, showing the amount of work completed versus the amount of work remaining.

Engineering

Burndown Chart

A graphical representation of work left to do versus time, used to measure progress toward completing a project or goal.

Engineering

Business Analyst

A professional who analyzes an organization or business domain (real or hypothetical) and documents its business or processes or systems, assessing the business model or its integration with technology.

Leadership Product Management

Business Intelligence

The process of collecting, analyzing, and presenting data to help inform business decisions.

Engineering Product Management Leadership

Business Model Archetypes

Frameworks or templates that classify businesses based on their sources of revenue, customer segments, and relationships with customers and suppliers.

Leadership Product Management

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

A visual tool used to map out the structure of a business, including its key components such as customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, and key resources.

Leadership Product Management

Business Owners

Provides strategic vision, financial, and market insight to guide roadmap prioritization.

Leadership Product Management

Buy a Feature

An method to prioritize features based on their expected value return by engaging with customers and stakeholders.

Product Management Engineering User Experience

Buyer Persona

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of a target customer, based on market research and real data about customer demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals.

Product Management User Experience

C

CIRCLES Method

An acronym for a method of problem-solving that stands for Clarify, Investigate, Respond, Check, Evaluate, and Share.

User Experience Product Management

Cannibalization

The decline in demand for one product due to the introduction of a similar product by the same company; this article discusses its impact and prevention. article explores its causes, effects and prevention strategies.

Product Management Engineering

Capacity Allocation

The process of assigning resources to tasks in order to meet a desired goal.

Leadership

Captive Product Pricing

A pricing strategy in which a company sets the price of a product or service based on the value it provides to the customer.

Product Management Leadership

Churn

The rate at which customers stop using a product or service over a given period of time.

User Experience Product Management Leadership

Circles of Influence

A concept that helps individuals focus on the things they can control or influence, and accept the things they cannot

Leadership Product Management

Committed PI Objectives

A shared, visible, and measurable goal that guides and aligns the efforts of an entire Agile portfolio within SAFe.

Leadership Product Management

Communities of Practice (CoPs)

Groups of people who share a common interest or passion and come together to learn from each other and collaborate on projects.

Leadership Engineering User Experience Product Management

Competitive Analysis

The process of analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of competitors in order to gain a competitive advantage.

User Experience Product Management Leadership

Competitive Intelligence

The process of gathering and analyzing information about competitors to gain a competitive advantage.

Leadership Product Management

Competitive Landscape

The analysis of a company's competitive position in the market, including its strengths and weaknesses relative to its competitors.

Product Management Leadership

Concept Review

A stage in product development where a team evaluates the viability and desirability of a product idea before investing significant resources in its creation.

User Experience Product Management Engineering Leadership

Confidence Vote

A vote of approval or support for a particular decision or action.

Leadership

Continuous Delivery

A software development practice that enables teams to rapidly and reliably deliver software by automating the build, test, and deployment process.

Engineering Product Management

Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP)

A set of automated processes that enable the rapid and reliable delivery of software from development to production.

Engineering

Continuous Discovery

A process of ongoing research and analysis to identify new opportunities and insights.

User Experience Product Management Engineering Leadership

Conway's Law

The structure of a system is determined by the structure of the organization that created it.

Engineering Product Management

Core Tenets of Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD)

fundamental principles that explain how customers buy products to fulfill a specific job in their lives.

Engineering Product Management User Experience

Cost of Delay

The cost associated with the time taken to complete a project or task.

Product Management Leadership Engineering

Critical Path Method

A technique to determine the most efficient sequence of activities to complete a project.

Engineering

Crystal Agile Framework

A set of principles and practices for developing software in an agile way.

Engineering Product Management

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

The total cost of acquiring new customers through marketing and sales activities.

Product Management Leadership

Customer Journey Map

A visual representation of the steps a customer takes when interacting with a company, from initial contact to purchase and beyond.

User Experience Product Management

Cycle Time

The total amount of time it takes to complete a process from start to finish.

Engineering Product Management

D

DACI Decision-Making Framework

A decision-making framework that helps teams make decisions collaboratively by assigning roles and responsibilities to each team member.

Leadership Product Management

Daily Stand-Up

A brief team meeting where each member provides updates on their progress, discusses any challenges, and plans their tasks for the day.

Engineering Leadership

Dark Patterns

Design patterns that manipulate users through deceptive design.

Leadership Product Management User Experience

Design Thinking

A creative problem-solving process that involves understanding user needs, generating ideas, and testing solutions.

User Experience Product Management

Dual Process Theory

Explains how human thinking is governed by two distinct systems—one that is fast and automatic, and another that is slow and deliberate.

User Experience Product Management

Dual Track Agile

An approach to product development that combines the exploration of new ideas with the delivery of working software.

Engineering Product Management User Experience Leadership

F

Feature Creep

The tendency for a product to accumulate more features than originally intended, often resulting in a bloated and complex product.

Engineering Product Management User Experience

Feature Flag

A technique used to enable or disable a certain feature or functionality in a software application without having to deploy code.

Engineering Product Management User Experience

G

Gantt Chart

A graphical representation of a project timeline, showing the start and end dates of tasks and their dependencies.

Engineering Product Management

Greenfield Project

A new development project that starts from scratch, without any prior work or existing infrastructure.

Engineering Product Management Leadership

H

HEART Framework

A comprehensive approach to understanding and improving user experience

User Experience Product Management

Hackman's Law

As the size of a group increases, its members are more likely to encounter process problems when working together on collective tasks.

Leadership

I

ICE Scoring Model

Prioritize features and ideas by assigning numerical values based on their relative value, using three parameters: Impact, Confidence, and Ease.

Engineering Product Management

J

Job Story (JTBD)

Help understand customer needs by focusing on the job to be done, not the product.

Engineering Product Management User Experience

Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework (JTBD)

A framework for understanding customer needs and motivations in order to develop better products and services.

Engineering Product Management User Experience

K

Kanban

A visual workflow management method used to improve efficiency and productivity in processes.

Engineering Product Management

M

MoSCoW Prioritization

A technique used to prioritize requirements or tasks based on their importance, with the categories of Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, and Won't Have.

Product Management User Experience Engineering

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

A metric used to measure the amount of revenue a business can expect to receive on a regular basis from its subscription-based services.

Product Management Leadership

N

Northstar Metric

A key performance indicator that helps measure the success of a business's core product or service.

Product Management Engineering

Nudging

Guiding user behavior through design choices that align with how people naturally think and make decisions.

User Experience Product Management

O

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

A goal-setting framework used to measure and track progress towards achieving specific objectives.

Product Management Leadership

P

Parkinson's Law

Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

Engineering Product Management Leadership

Pivot

A strategic change in direction made by a company in response to feedback or other factors that suggest a need for a new approach

Engineering Leadership Product Management

Pricing Strategy

A plan of action that a business uses to determine the price of its products or services.

Product Management Leadership

Problem-Solving Workshop

A collaborative learning environment designed to help participants develop skills to identify and solve problems.

Engineering Leadership User Experience User Experience Product Management

Product Delivery

A methodology for developing and delivering products quickly and efficiently, using iterative and incremental development cycles.

Product Management Engineering Leadership

Product Discovery

The process of identifying and validating a product idea to ensure it meets customer needs. performs better.

Product Management Engineering User Experience

Product Manager

Responsible for overseeing the development and success of a company's product.

Product Management Leadership

Product Metrics

A measure of how well a product is performing, such as user engagement, customer satisfaction, or revenue.

Product Management User Experience Engineering Leadership

Product-Led Growth

A business strategy that focuses on using a product's features and capabilities to drive customer acquisition and retention.

Product Management Leadership

Product/Market Fit

The degree to which a product meets the needs of a specific market or customer segment.

Product Management Leadership User Experience

Prospect Theory

When we make decisions under risk, we give disproportionate weight to losses compared to gains.

User Experience Product Management

R

RACI Matrix

A tool used to define roles and responsibilities for a project or process, assigning each task to a specific individual or group.

Engineering Product Management Leadership

RICE Scoring Model

A method of prioritizing projects and tasks based on their Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort.

Engineering Product Management

Retention Rate

A measure of how many customers or employees remain with a company over a given period of time.

Product Management Leadership

Retrospective

Reflect on what worked, what didn't work, and why to identify ways to improve teamwork.

Engineering Leadership

S

Sean Ellis Score

A metric used to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty to a product or service.

Product Management User Experience Leadership

Self-Determination Theory

Human motivation is influenced by three innate psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

User Experience Product Management

T

Team Topology

A framework that defines how teams are structured and interact within an organization to optimize product delivery and performance.

Leadership Product Management

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

The total potential revenue opportunity for a product or service in a given market.

Product Management

W

Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)

A prioritization model that assigns a weight to each job based on its relative importance and urgency.

Engineering Product Management

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