In the dynamic world of startups, the ability to swiftly adapt and understand every aspect of your business is crucial—especially the tech side. For founders without a technical background, software development terms can sometimes seem like a foreign language. This guide is designed to demystify some of the most common jargon you’ll encounter, paving the way for better communication with your developers and a smoother path to success.
Expanding Your Software Development Vocabulary
To effectively manage your tech team and projects, here are some essential terms every founder should know:
Agile: A methodology promoting continuous iteration of development and testing throughout the software lifecycle.
Scrum: A subset of Agile focusing on short "sprints" of work and daily meetings to discuss tasks and roadblocks.
Backlog: A prioritized list of tasks or goals that need to be completed, often used in Agile workflows.
DevOps: Practices combining software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) aimed at reducing the development cycle and increasing efficiency.
User Stories: Simple descriptions of a software feature from the perspective of the end user, focusing on their needs and benefits.
Sprint: A set period during which specific work has to be completed and made ready for review in Agile methodologies.
API (Application Programming Interface): Tools and protocols for building software and enabling different systems to interact.
Kanban: A visual workflow management method that enables efficient team collaborations and process improvements.
Git: A version control system for tracking changes in computer files and coordinating work among multiple people.
Repository (Repo): A central place where data is stored and managed, often used in software development for storing code.
Commit: A term in version control that captures the state of a project at a specific point in time.
Merge: The process of integrating changes from different branches in a version control system.
Branch: A version of the repository that diverges from the main working project to be developed in parallel.
CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment): A system to automate the testing and deployment of software.
Unit Testing: Testing individual components of software for functionality.
Integration Testing: Testing combined components of an application to evaluate their performance together.
Functional Testing: Testing that evaluates software by checking it against functional requirements.
System Testing: Comprehensive testing of a complete system before it goes live.
Deployment: The process of deploying software so that it is available to users.
Release Management: The process of managing, planning, scheduling, and controlling a software build through stages and environments.
Configuration Management: Managing the state of resources, like hardware devices and software configurations.
Containerization: The use of containers to encapsulate an application's code, configurations, and dependencies into a single object.
Microservices: An architectural style that structures an application as a collection of small autonomous services, modeled around a business domain.
Payload: In web development, the part of transferred data that is the actual intended message.
Framework: In software development, a platform for developing software applications. It provides a foundation on which software developers can build programs for a specific platform.
Middleware: Software that lies between an operating system and the applications running on it, essentially functioning as a hidden translation layer.
Version Control: A system that records changes to a file or set of files over time so that specific versions can be recalled later.
Build: In software engineering, a build is the process of converting source code files into standalone software artifact(s) that can be run on a computer.
Latency: The delay before a transfer of data begins following an instruction for its transfer.
Scalability: The capability of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work, or its potential to be enlarged to accommodate that growth.
Conclusion
Understanding tech jargon is more than just learning new words—it’s about bridging the gap between vision and execution. Equip yourself with these terms, and you'll be able to engage more productively with your developers and lead your tech projects to success.
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