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
Coordination Cost Change Coupling Cost, Cross-Team Latency, Lockstep Tax	concept	Conway's Law	The delay and effort imposed on a change by the number of teams and services that must agree and release together - usually the dominant term in delivery lead time, and almost never instrumented.
Coordination Tax Cross-Team Feature Cost, Conway Misalignment Cost	concept	Conway's Law	The permanent, structural cost incurred when service boundaries are drawn on a different axis from the way work arrives - and the reason consolidating services is sometimes an architectural improvement.
Inverse Conway Manoeuvre	practice	Conway's Law	Deliberately reorganising teams so that the architecture you want becomes the architecture the organisation naturally produces.