Glossary

Agile

Discover the power of Agile methodologies in product development. Learn about Scrum, Kanban, and more to enhance your team's productivity and efficiency.

A

A/B Test

An A/B test is an essential comparative process used to identify which version of two items is most effective, such as PPC ads, landing pages, and more.

API

API is an initialism for application programming interface. An API allows two different applications to speak to each other, by acting as a software intermediary that can both send and receive information.

Acceptance Test

An acceptance test is conducted by the customer or the end-user to evaluate if a software solution meets requirements.

Acceptance test-driven development (ATDD)

Acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) is a testing methodology that defines the acceptable behavior of a digital product before it is developed.

Adaptive Software Development (ASD)

Adaptive software development embodies the principle that continuous adaptation of the process to the work at hand is the normal way to work.

Agile

The Agile methodology is a set of values and principles, promoting iterative ways of working, where teams progress in “sprints”. This enables more effective prioritization and, if done well, also increases user satisfaction.

Agile Framework

Agile Frameworks are the different variations and approaches used by development teams based on the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto.

Agile Leadership

Agile leaders spearhead the agile methodology within product teams.

Agile Manifesto

The Agile Manifesto is the foundation of agile software development. Learn what it is, why it was written, its 4 core values, and why it still matters.

Agile Principles

The 12 agile principles explain how teams apply agile in practice. Learn what they are, how they relate to the 4 agile values, and see real examples.

Agile Product Owner

An Agile Product Owner is vital for steering a product’s development in the right direction and helping teams complete tasks successfully. They work to keep a product in line with the company’s best interests and stakeholder expectations.

Agile Release Train

The agile release train is a key component of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) that coordinates multiple development teams working on the same product.

Agile Transformation

With agile transformation, an organization restructures and redefines itself to align with the agile methodology, affecting the business as a whole.

Agile Values

The Agile Values are the four core values of the Agile Manifesto, a guide designed to help software development teams work more efficiently and collaboratively.

B

Back End (In a Website)

What is a back end? In product management, the back end is just as important as the front end that users interact with. Here’s what product leaders should know.

Backlog

A backlog is a prioritized list of all smaller tasks to be completed for a larger development project. It usually includes user stories, bug fixes, and product updates.

Backlog Grooming

Backlog grooming gives product teams the opportunity to review and prioritize their outstanding user stories, typically in preparation for the next sprint.

Behavior-Driven Development

Behavior-driven development (BDD) is a strategy allowing product managers, developers, and testers to collaborate on testing software’s acceptable behavior.

Beta Test

A limited release of software or an application to assess it for bugs and other issues before it is released generally.

Bucket Sort

Bucket Sort is a sorting algorithm that separates elements in a dataset into different buckets (also known as categories or bins). The buckets are then sorted individually and recombined to produce the final, sorted dataset.

Business Agility

Business agility takes the principles of agile development and uses them across an entire organization, increasing adaptability to market changes, challenge or opportunities. An agile business also fosters greater creativity, innovation, and collaboration.

C

CAD/CAE

CAD and CAE are types of engineering apps that make it possible for engineers and designers to work in a digital, 3D environment.

CIRCLES method

The CIRCLES method is the framework used by product managers to answer design questions. It also acts as a checklist to help product managers consider user needs.

Cadence in Agile

Cadence in Agile refers to the rhythm of a project based on the duration of sprints.

Continuous Delivery (CD)

Continuous Delivery (CD) is defined as the ability to deliver product updates to customers as quickly and frequently as possible.

Continuous Deployment

Continuous deployment is an agile production method, designed to fast-track products to market.

Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement — sometimes referred to as ‘Kaizen’ — is an ongoing effort to improve products or processes. It relies on a culture where all employees identify opportunities for enhancements and wastage reduction.

Continuous Integration (CI)

Continuous integration is an engineering process where code is subjected to automated testing, several times a day, to identify bugs or errors.

Critical Path Method (CPM)

The critical path method is a modeling algorithm designed to help product managers escape inefficient scheduling and gain a clear overview of all tasks at hand.

Cross-functional Team

A cross-functional team unites people with diverse skills from across a company, specializing in different functional areas such as design or product management.

Crystal Agile Framework

Crystal is an agile methodology for software development. It focuses on people and communications over processes and tools and is uniquely flexible around team types, criticality and project priority.

D

DEEP Backlog

A DEEP backlog is one possible outcome of a backlog grooming session. The acronym that describes effective backlogs, and stands for: Detailed Appropriately, Emergent, Estimates and Prioritized.

DSDM Agile Methodology

DSDM (Dynamic System Development Method) is an agile methodology based on 8 principles including focusing on the business need, building incrementally, and communicating continuously.

DevOps

Principles used to transform a workforce mindset so that it can better communicate and collaborate in developing and releasing a product.

Disciplined Agile (DA)

Disciplined Agile (DA) is a process decision toolkit, bringing together elements from Scrum, eXtreme Programming, Kanban and, of course, agile development. As such, DA helps teams streamline their internal processes and achieve greater business agility.

Dual-Track Agile

Dual-track agile is a form of agile development, in which the work of a product development team is separated across a discovery track and delivery track.

Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)

Dynamic Systems Development Method an agile iterative approach to software development that considers not just the lifecycle of a project, but also the wider business impact it will have.

E

Edge Case

An edge case is a type of bug in software development that only occurs under uncommon circumstances. This means that most users won't encounter these types of bugs, which may change how a team approaches handling the bug.

End-to-End

End-to-end has several definitions, but most simply refer to the entire product journey, from initial conception to market launch and beyond.

Engineering Backlog

An engineering backlog shows which work items are being completed by the engineering team in the current sprint.

Epics in Agile and Scrum

An Epic is a collection of user stories that come together to create a deliverable that adds real value to the product, the business, and the users.

Extreme Programming (XP)

Extreme Programming (XP) is a set of strictly defined engineering practices, that aim to not only promote the principles of agile development but also to improve the quality of life for the development team.

F

Feature Driven Development (FDD)

Feature Driven Development (FDD) is an iterative agile model used to incrementally develop features into a complete product. It focuses on building software by breaking it into small components, rapidly developed in repetitive cycles.

Feature Kickoff

A Feature Kickoff is a conference held right as a development team is about to start work on a new project. During this meeting, the project manager and stakeholders discuss expectations, goals, and requirements for the project.

Feature vs. Story vs. Epics

Features, stories, and epics are crucial parts of agile projects that form the final product.

Fibonacci Agile Estimation

The Fibonacci Agile Estimation is a story-point method that helps agile teams estimate tasks to reach a consensus on time and resource allocation.

G

GIST Planning

This is a minimal product planning concept that stands for Goals, Ideas, Step-Projects, and Tasks.

I

Incremental Product

An Incremental Product is one which has been developed over time via a series of small upgrades or improvements. This process is known as incremental product innovation.

Iteration

An iteration is the specific time period set aside for the development of a product or software.

Iterative Testing

Iterative testing is the process of making small changes to products, based on insights gained from previous changes. Iterative testing is a valuable tool for SaaS and tech-based companies.

J

Jira

Jira is a tool for agile project development. It comes with a range of features, including customer support ticketing, bug tracking, and task assignment and monitoring.

K

Kanban Board

A Kanban board is a visualization tool allowing teams to optimize their workflow, completing tasks with increased productivity and efficiency.

Kanban Roadmap

The term “Kanban roadmap” has recently gained popularity, but what does it actually mean, and do Kanban roadmaps exist at all?

L

LeSS (Large Scale Scrum)

LeSS (Large Scale Scrum) is an agile approach to software development that incorporates elements not found within the traditional Scrum framework. Put simply, LeSS applies Scrum principles on a larger scale.

Lean Business Canvas

A lean business canvas is a template to help teams identify key assumptions.

Lean Product

Lean product development is a product development method that focuses on reducing waste, speeding up delivery, and increasing profit and customer value.

Lean Software Development (LSD)

Lean Software Development is an agile framework, intended to optimize development time, use of resources, and focus on the minimum viable needs of a product.

Lean Startup

The Lean Startup is a technique for developing new products and services, that emphasizes rapid iteration, testing, and learning.

M

Minimum Viable Experience (MVE)

The term MVE: Minimum Viable Experience refers to how a customer feels when they interact with a brand’s MVP (Minimum Viable Product).

Minimum Viable Feature (MVF)

An aspect of a product that is experimental and includes the smallest possible attributes.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Launching with a minimum viable product (MVP) allows teams to test a product’s core concept and functionality in a realistic setting, receiving user feedback and improving iteratively when needed.

P

Pair Programming

Pair programming involves two programmers sharing a single workstation. One programmer focuses on coding, whilst the other reviews and assesses the work.

Planning poker

Estimating how much time it will take to complete a cycle of development can be a challenge for agile managers and teams. Planning poker is a gamified tool designed to help — where the team works together to come to a consensus.

Platform Product Management

Platform product management is an essential component of the whole management system of any well-developing company.

Pragmatic Marketing

Pragmatic marketing is a sophisticated product marketing and creation process that continually adapts based on customers' needs.

Priority Poker

Priority Poker / Planning Poker is a technique designed to help product teams prioritize their backlog in a way which is fair, democratic and a little gamified.

Prototype

Prototypes offer teams a valuable opportunity to conduct in-depth testing on products and concepts during the development process.

Q

Quality Assurance Engineers (QA Engineers)

Learn how product leaders collaborate with QA engineers to deliver quality, speed, and customer trust — and how airfocus helps align teams around shared goals.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

A model that aids the conversion of consumer needs and preferences into technical requirements in the development of a product.

R

Refactoring

Within the software, this is when code is cleaned, or internal structure altered, to make improvements.

S

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

An agile framework designed to help scale agile practices for larger organizations with multiple teams working on multifaceted projects.

Scrum Master

Being a Scrum Master is a professional occupation and originates from a designated role in the Scrum framework. A Scrum Master is responsible for delegating and supervising agile software development activities based on the ideas and methods of Scrum.

Scrum Meeting

The Scrum meeting is executed daily, usually performed as a stand-up meeting. Participants include all Scrum team members, such as product owner, Scrum Master and development team.

Scrum of Scrums

Scrum of Scrums is an Agile technique used when companies need to coordinate multiple Scrum teams to build several and/or complex products. Scrum of Scrums is also known as “meta scrum” or SoS.

Shape Up Method

The Shape Up Method is a process for developing products across six-week cycles, with “cooldown” periods between each. Teams have more autonomy to determine tasks and manage them to completion, freeing leaders from time-consuming micromanagement.

Sprint

A sprint is a fixed length of time allocated to a team to complete specific tasks and achieve goals.

Sprint Backlog

A sprint backlog is the list of items selected from the product backlog to deliver during the current sprint. Crucially, this should also contain a solid plan for delivering the product increments to meet the sprint goals.

Sprint Goal

The sprint goal is a clear, simple objective to be completed during a single sprint or iteration.

Sprint Planning

In a sprint planning meeting, the scrum team will prioritize which items from the product backlog should be delivered during the current sprint.

Stage-gate Model

The stage-gate model is a process used to structure the product development cycle into a series of stages and gates. Each stage represents a milestone, and a gate separates each stage, where teams decide if and how to move forward.

Standup

A standup is a short daily meeting designed to share progress amongst the team and encourage good communication.

Story Point

A story point is a unit of measure used in the agile development process to express an estimate of the overall effort that will be required to fully implement a product backlog item.

T

Test-Driven Development (TDD)

Test-Driven Development, or TDD, is a software development methodology in which features are developed and tested against specific test cases in parallel, as opposed to testing after the code is completed.

Tribe Model Management (TMM)

Involves dividing product development staff into specific units for the purpose of working more flexibly.

U

UX Designer

Whilst the role of a UX designer may vary from business to business, you can think of them as an advocate users — it is the UX designer’s job to ensure the best possible user experience, in everything from purchase to packaging.

User Experience (UX)

User experience (UX) refers to the total, end-to-end experience of using a product or service. UX designers use first-hand research to analyze every touchpoint and interaction, seeking to reduce friction and improve user satisfaction.

User Segmentation

User segmentation refers to highlighting similarities between different types of customers to create groups.

User-centered Design

User-centered design is the process of creating a product built around the user. The aim is to ask the user to conform to the product as little as possible while having the product conform to the user as much as necessary.

W

Waterfall

Waterfall software development breaks work into consecutive stages, that each happens one after the other until the completion of the project.

Website Metrics

Website metrics are a variety of measurements made on a given website in order to better track its performance and statistics.

Website Traffic

What is website traffic? Learn about the significance of website traffic in product management and web traffic metrics for product teams and leaders to track.

What, Not How

“What, not how” is a method that emphasizes the importance of what an application will do, rather than how it will work. This helps clarify a product’s purpose, speeds up planning, and simplifies decision-making during development.

Wireframe

A wireframe is a simple representation of a web page or application’s layout, serving as a visual prototype to illustrate the product’s various UI elements.

Working Backwards (The Amazon Method)

Working backwards (the Amazon Method) is a methodology that turns the product development process upside down. It starts at the end: with the product team writing an internal-only press release announcing the final product.

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Glossary

Agile

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