Terminology

454 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 areas454 Architecture Fundamentals16 Distributed Systems73 Data Architecture71 Cloud Architecture55 Networking13 API & Integration Architecture17 Reliability & Resilience16 Observability14 Performance & Capacity Engineering13 Security Architecture50 Cost Architecture & FinOps12 Business Architecture9 Architecture Communication8 Enterprise Architecture8 Legacy Modernization11 AI-Era Architecture15 Software Architecture & Engineering19 Architecture Patterns15 Architecture Decision-Making11 The Architect's Meta-Skills8

Kind Any concept166 practice107 pattern93 case-study26 tool26 protocol22 metric14

7 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Application Portfolio Management APM, Application Rationalisation	practice	Enterprise Architecture	Maintaining an inventory of every application with its owner, cost, business value and technical health, and using it to decide what to invest in, replace or retire.
Architecture Review Board ARB, Design Authority	practice	Enterprise Architecture	A forum that reviews significant designs against standards, risks and strategy before commitment.
Capability Map	practice	Enterprise Architecture	A structured view of everything a business does, used as the stable frame for mapping applications, investment, ownership and gaps.
Paved Road Golden Path	practice	Enterprise Architecture	A supported, opinionated default way to build and run a service, made easy enough that teams choose it rather than being required to.
Reference Architecture	practice	Enterprise Architecture	A pre-approved, documented template for a recurring class of solution, so that similar problems do not get individually redesigned.
Technology Radar	practice	Enterprise Architecture	A published, periodically-reviewed view of which technologies are endorsed, tolerated, being trialled, or to be avoided.
TOGAF	practice	Enterprise Architecture	An enterprise architecture framework whose central element is the ADM, an iterative cycle from vision through business, data, application and technology architecture to implementation governance.