Terminology

2205 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 areas2205 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 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 concept794 practice734 pattern368 metric125 case-study77 tool62 protocol45

3 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Business Understanding	practice	Business Understanding	Knowing how the organisation makes money, what it is trying to achieve, and what would damage it — without which architectural judgement has no basis.
Commercial Literacy	concept	Business Understanding	Sufficient understanding of how the business makes money and what it is measured on to translate technical work into terms that compete for funding.
Unit Cost Ceiling Cost per Transaction Limit, Infrastructure Cost Budget per Order	metric	Business Understanding	The infrastructure cost per transaction that the business model can bear, derived from contribution margin and fixed before design, which decides how much work a request is allowed to do.