Terminology

2185 terms, tools, patterns and metrics an architect is expected to use precisely. Each one gets a short explanation of what it is, and — where it matters — what it is commonly confused with. Search filters as you type; the column headers sort.

All areas2185 Architecture Fundamentals77 Distributed Systems107 Data Architecture110 Cloud Architecture89 Networking88 API & Integration Architecture82 Reliability & Resilience75 Observability70 Performance & Capacity Engineering72 Security Architecture81 Cost Architecture & FinOps66 Business Architecture67 Architecture Communication67 Enterprise Architecture66 Legacy Modernization66 AI-Era Architecture69 Software Architecture & Engineering71 Architecture Patterns71 Architecture Decision-Making63 The Architect's Meta-Skills61 Delivery & Release Engineering66 Platform Engineering & Developer Experience70 Testing & Quality Architecture66 Data Platform Architecture64 Streaming & Real-Time Data69 Data Governance & Semantics69 Frontend & Experience Architecture66 Edge, Mobile & IoT68 Regulatory & Data Protection Architecture65 Assurance, Audit & Model Risk64

Kind Any concept785 practice729 pattern362 metric125 case-study77 tool62 protocol45

6 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Business KPIs	metric	Business KPIs	The measures the business runs on — which architects should understand, influence and instrument.
Captive User Signal Mandated Tool Measurement, Workaround Count	metric	Product Thinking	The small set of measurements that still carry information when users cannot choose an alternative - workarounds, time to first success, abandonment - because usage and satisfaction no longer do.
Decision Latency Time to Architectural Decision, Decision Queue Time	metric	Organisational Constraints	The elapsed time from a design question being raised to a decision being made, whose length changes not only when designs ship but how complicated they are - because optionality is the rational hedge against s…
Lead Time to Value	metric	Time to Market	The elapsed time from identifying an opportunity to delivering measurable benefit, which is usually dominated by waiting rather than by building.
Slip Cost per Week Weekly Delay Cost, Delay Cost per Week	metric	Time to Market	The money a launch loses for each week it is late - and whether that money is deferred or destroyed - which is the only form in which time to market can be traded against design quality.
Vendor Reversal Cost Buy Unwind Cost, Vendor Disentanglement Estimate	metric	Build vs Buy	The engineer-months needed to unwind a buy decision - dominated by business logic that leaked into the vendor's configuration rather than by anything the contract's termination clause covers.