Terminology

2225 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 areas2225 Architecture Fundamentals77 Distributed Systems107 Data Architecture110 Cloud Architecture94 Networking88 API & Integration Architecture82 Reliability & Resilience75 Observability70 Performance & Capacity Engineering72 Security Architecture86 Cost Architecture & FinOps71 Business Architecture67 Architecture Communication67 Enterprise Architecture66 Legacy Modernization71 AI-Era Architecture74 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 Architecture69 Streaming & Real-Time Data69 Data Governance & Semantics74 Frontend & Experience Architecture66 Edge, Mobile & IoT68 Regulatory & Data Protection Architecture65 Assurance, Audit & Model Risk69

Kind Any concept801 practice736 pattern377 metric127 case-study77 tool62 protocol45

6 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Approval Wait Queue Time in Lead Time, Waiting Not Working	metric	Flow Metrics	The portion of lead time spent waiting for a human rather than for a machine - frequently the largest single component and invisible inside the aggregate because nobody measures it separately.
Integration Frequency	metric	Continuous Integration Discipline	How often each engineer merges to the mainline — the measurement that distinguishes continuous integration from having a CI server.
Integration Throughput Ceiling Merge Queue Capacity, Serial Merge Limit	metric	Continuous Integration Discipline	The maximum merges per day a verification pipeline can admit, set by run duration and merge concurrency, which caps how many engineers can integrate continuously before behaviour changes.
Lead Time for Changes	metric	Flow Metrics	The elapsed time from code committed to code running in production.
Pipeline Change Coverage Change Denominator, Measured Change Share	metric	Flow Metrics	The share of changes reaching production that the delivery pipeline actually measures - the denominator that decides whether elite delivery metrics describe the system or only the part of it that happens to be…
Queue Time Attribution	metric	Flow Metrics	Splitting elapsed lead time into work and waiting, and naming which queue each wait sat in.