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

4 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Compensating Control	practice	Stakeholder Analysis	A cheaper measure that reduces a risk enough to proceed, used deliberately and with an expiry, when the full control cannot be delivered in the available time.
Configuration Surface Absorbing Variation by Configuration, Yes-Configured	pattern	Stakeholder Analysis	A deliberately designed set of configurable behaviours that absorbs the customisation requests a business will predictably receive, so the answer becomes "yes, configured" rather than "yes, built".
Power-Interest Grid	practice	Stakeholder Analysis	A classification of stakeholders by their influence over a decision and their level of concern with it, used to allocate communication effort deliberately.
Stakeholder Analysis	practice	Stakeholder Analysis	Identifying who has a stake in a decision, what each cares about, and what would make each object — before the design review rather than during it.