Glossary

The terms, without the fog

Every entry here is something a client has asked us about after a meeting where they did not want to interrupt. Each one says what the thing is, why it costs or saves money, and the misunderstanding that comes up most.

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Engineering

Engineering terms

APIApplication programming interface · IntegrationA defined contract that lets one system use another without knowing how it works inside.

CI/CDContinuous integration · Continuous deployment · PipelineAutomation that tests every change and releases it through the same repeatable path.

Core Web VitalsLCP · INP · CLSGoogle's three measured signals of page experience — loading, responsiveness and visual stability.

Headless architectureDecoupled · Headless CMSAn architecture where the content system and the presentation layer are separate, connected by an API.

Infrastructure as codeIaC · TerraformDefining servers, networks and services in version-controlled files rather than by clicking in a console.

Semantic HTMLUsing elements for what they mean rather than how they look, so machines can understand the page.

Technical debtWork deferred to ship sooner, which accrues interest as everything built on top of it gets harder.

WebhookA callback where one system posts to your URL the moment something happens, instead of you asking repeatedly.

AI terms

Evaluation setEval · Golden datasetA labeled collection of real inputs with known-correct outputs, used to score an AI system automatically on every change.

HallucinationConfabulationWhen a language model produces fluent, confident output that is simply not true.

Human in the loopHITL · Review queueA design where the system proposes and a person confirms, used wherever a wrong action is expensive to reverse.

RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)Retrieval augmented generation · GroundingGiving a language model your documents at the moment of answering, rather than relying on what it memorized.

Marketing

Marketing terms

A/B testingSplit testing · ExperimentationRandomly splitting traffic between variants to measure which performs better, with statistics attached.

Answer engine optimizationAEO · GEO · AI search optimizationMaking your content the thing an AI assistant cites when it answers a question in your category.

AttributionMulti-touch attribution · MTAAssigning credit for a conversion across the touchpoints that led to it.

Conversion rateCVRThe share of visitors who take the action you were hoping for — and a number that is meaningless without its denominator.

IncrementalityLift testing · HoldoutThe revenue a channel actually caused, as opposed to the revenue it was present for.

Schema markupStructured data · JSON-LDMachine-readable annotations that tell search and AI engines what a page is, rather than making them infer it.

Technical SEOThe crawlability, indexability and performance work that decides whether your content is eligible to rank at all.

Design

Design terms

Accessibilitya11y · WCAG · ADA complianceDesigning and building so people with disabilities can use the product — a legal requirement in the US and a usability floor for everyone.

Design systemComponent library · Design tokensThe components, tokens and rules that make a product visually consistent and cheap to extend.

WCAG 2.2Web Content Accessibility GuidelinesThe international standard US accessibility obligations are measured against, in three conformance levels.

Data

Data terms

Data warehouseAnalytics database · LakehouseA central store optimized for analysis rather than for running the business.

ETL / ELTData pipeline · Extract transform loadThe scheduled process that moves data from source systems into somewhere it can be analyzed.

Single source of truthSSOT · System of recordA named authoritative system for each piece of data, so disagreement has an answer.

Commercial

Commercial terms

DiscoveryInception · Scoping phaseA paid engagement that ends with a costed recommendation rather than a proposal.

MVPMinimum viable productThe smallest build that produces a real answer to the riskiest assumption.

Scope creepWork that enters a project without a decision, a price or a date attached.

Total cost of ownershipTCOWhat the thing costs over its life, not what it costs to build.

Vendor lock-inThe cost of leaving a supplier, deliberately or accidentally engineered to be high.

Where to next

All servicesThe 64 services these terms describe the work of.

PricingWhat each kind of engagement actually costs.

FAQContracts, ownership, delivery and how we use AI.

Next step

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