A term used to describe an organization focused on continuously shipping new features, often at the expense of quality, user experience, or business value. Crucial for recognizing and addressing the pitfalls of prioritizing quantity over quality in feature development.
An approach to information architecture that starts with the details and builds up to a comprehensive structure. Useful for designing flexible and detailed systems that can adapt to user needs.
A state of overthinking and indecision that prevents making a choice, often due to too many options or uncertainty. Important for designing interfaces that simplify decision-making processes for users.
The tendency for individuals to put in less effort when working in a group compared to when working alone, due to reduced accountability. Crucial for understanding group dynamics and designing systems that ensure individual accountability.
A developer proficient in both front-end and back-end technologies, capable of building complete web applications. Crucial for delivering comprehensive and cohesive digital products by managing both user interface and server-side components.
A methodology for building software-as-a-service apps that emphasizes best practices for development, deployment, and scalability. Important for creating scalable, maintainable, and efficient digital products.
The phenomenon where having too many options leads to decision-making paralysis and decreased satisfaction. Crucial for understanding and designing user interfaces that avoid overwhelming users with choices.
A collaborative process specific to the design phase that involves stakeholders, including users, in the refinement of user-centered design solutions. Essential for creating designs that truly meet user needs and expectations.
A key aspect of Gestalt psychology describing the mind's ability to fill in gaps to create a whole object from incomplete elements. Crucial for designing creative and engaging visuals that are both pleasing to the eye and cleverly satisfying to the mind.
A quick and often temporary fix applied to a software product to address an urgent issue without going through the full development cycle. Essential for maintaining the stability and functionality of digital products in the face of critical issues.
The idea that self-control or willpower draws upon a limited pool of mental resources that can be used up. Useful for designing user experiences that consider the limitations of willpower and self-control.
An interdisciplinary study of systems, examining the complex interactions and relationships between components within a whole. Crucial for understanding and designing complex, interconnected systems.
A psychological phenomenon where people develop a preference for things simply because they are familiar with them. Crucial for designing user experiences that leverage familiarity to increase user comfort and satisfaction.
The study of architectural concepts, including the principles and methodologies used in the design and construction of buildings and structures. Useful for understanding spatial design and applying architectural principles to digital interfaces.
A strategy where engaging, preferred activities are used to motivate users to complete less engaging, necessary tasks. Useful for designing user interfaces and experiences that encourage desired behaviors by leveraging more enjoyable activities as rewards.
The persistence of misinformation in memory and influence on reasoning, even after it has been corrected. Crucial for understanding and mitigating the impact of misinformation in design and communication.
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an information system. Essential for managing the complexities of software development and ensuring project success.
A visual representation of information or data designed to make complex information easily understandable at a glance. Important for communicating insights and data effectively to stakeholders and users in digital product design.
Feature Driven Development (FDD) is an agile methodology focused on designing and building features based on client-valued functionality. Essential for delivering client-valued features efficiently and effectively.
A fictional representation of a user segment, created based on user research to guide design decisions and ensure the product meets the needs of its target audience. Crucial for keeping design efforts focused on user needs and preferences.
The default scaling factor applied by a device to render content at its optimal size and resolution. Crucial for ensuring visual clarity and consistency on various devices.
A market space that is unexplored and uncontested, where companies can create new demand and capture significant market share without much competition. Crucial for identifying opportunities for innovation and growth by creating new markets.
An organization that places the product at the center of its operations, ensuring that all departments align their efforts to support product development and success. Crucial for creating a cohesive and focused approach to product development and business growth.
Domain-Driven Design (DDD) is an approach to software development that focuses on modeling the business domain and its logic. Essential for aligning software development with business needs and creating maintainable systems.
The behavior of seeking information or resources based on social interactions and cues. Important for understanding how users gather information in social contexts and designing systems that support collaborative information seeking.
A collection of pre-written code and tools that provide a foundation for building the front end of websites and applications, such as Bootstrap or React. Crucial for streamlining the development process and ensuring consistency.
A phenomenon where the winner of an auction tends to overpay due to emotional competition, leading to a less favorable outcome than anticipated. Important for understanding decision-making biases and designing systems that mitigate overbidding risks.
A cognitive bias where people avoid negative information or situations, preferring to remain uninformed or ignore problems. Important for understanding user behavior and designing systems that encourage proactive engagement.
Cost of Delay (CoD) is a metric that quantifies the economic impact of delaying a project, feature, or task. Important for making informed decisions about project prioritization and resource allocation.
A tendency to avoid making decisions that might lead to regret, influencing risk-taking and decision-making behaviors. Crucial for understanding decision-making processes and designing systems that minimize regret.
The mistaken belief that a person who has experienced success in a random event has a higher probability of further success in additional attempts. Crucial for understanding and designing around user decision-making biases.
A cognitive bias where people attribute greater value to outcomes that required significant effort to achieve. Useful for designing experiences that recognize and reward user effort and persistence.
A mode of thinking, derived from Dual Process Theory, that is slow, deliberate, and analytical, requiring more cognitive effort and conscious reasoning. Crucial for designing complex tasks and interfaces that require thoughtful decision-making and problem-solving, ensuring they are clear and logical for users.
A behavioral economics concept where people categorize and treat money differently depending on its source or intended use. Crucial for understanding financial behavior and designing systems that align with users' mental accounting practices.
Universal, symbolic patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious, used in design to create meaningful and resonant experiences. Useful for creating designs that tap into universal human experiences and emotions.
A phenomenon where individuals' preferences between options change when the options are presented in different ways or contexts. Important for understanding and designing around inconsistencies in user choices.
A hybrid Agile project management framework that combines elements of Scrum and Kanban to improve flexibility and workflow management. Useful for teams seeking to blend the structured approach of Scrum with the visual workflow of Kanban.
A moment of significant change in a process or system, where the direction of growth, performance, or trend shifts markedly. Important for recognizing critical transitions in design or business strategies, enabling timely adjustments and informed decision-making.
Feature Adoption Rate (FAR) is the percentage of users who adopt a new feature within a specified time period after its release. This metric is important for measuring the success and impact of new product features.
The study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. Useful for understanding and applying narrative techniques in design and communication.
A cognitive bias where bizarre or unusual information is better remembered than common information. Useful for designers to create memorable and engaging user experiences by incorporating unique elements.
A high-level description of the future state of a product, outlining its purpose, target audience, and key differentiators. Essential for providing direction and inspiration for product development efforts.
The perseverance and passion for long-term goals, often seen as a key trait for success. Important for understanding and fostering resilience and persistence in design and product development.
Digital Asset Management (DAM) is a system that stores, organizes, and manages digital assets, such as images, videos, and documents. Essential for maintaining and leveraging digital content efficiently in product design and marketing.
The tendency for individuals to present themselves in a favorable light by overreporting good behavior and underreporting bad behavior in surveys or research. Crucial for designing research methods that mitigate biases and obtain accurate data.
The practice of identifying and analyzing search terms that users enter into search engines, used to inform content strategy and SEO. Essential for understanding user intent and optimizing content to meet search demand.
An inference method used in AI and expert systems where reasoning starts from known facts and applies rules to derive new facts. Important for developing intelligent systems that can build knowledge and solve problems incrementally in digital products.
Ontology is a comprehensive model that includes entities, their attributes, and the complex relationships between them, while taxonomy is a hierarchical classification system that organizes entities into parent-child relationships. Essential for understanding the depth and scope of data organization, helping to choose the appropriate structure for information management and retrieval.
Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is a framework for improving and optimizing processes within an organization. Essential for assessing and enhancing the maturity and efficiency of processes in product design and development.
A type of software testing that ensures that recent changes have not adversely affected existing features. Essential for maintaining software quality and reliability.
A cognitive bias where individuals interpret others' behaviors as having hostile intent, even when the behavior is ambiguous or benign. Important for understanding user interactions and designing experiences that mitigate negative interpretations.
A mode of thinking, derived from Dual Process Theory, that is fast, automatic, and intuitive, often relying on heuristics and immediate impressions. Important for understanding how users make quick decisions and respond to design elements instinctively, aiding in the creation of intuitive and user-friendly interfaces.
Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive (MECE) is a problem-solving framework ensuring that categories are mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive, avoiding overlaps and gaps. Essential for structured thinking and comprehensive analysis in problem-solving.
Application Programming Interface (API) is a set of tools and protocols that allow different software applications to communicate and interact with each other. Essential for integrating different systems and enabling functionality in digital products.
A psychological phenomenon where individuals are perceived as more likable if they make a mistake, provided they are generally competent. Important for understanding human perception and leveraging relatability in marketing and leadership.
An agile framework for managing work with an emphasis on software development, characterized by sprints and iterative progress. Essential for improving productivity and delivering incremental value in development projects.
A research approach that starts with observations and develops broader generalizations or theories from them. Useful for discovering patterns and generating new theories from data.
A cognitive bias where people prefer familiar things over unfamiliar ones, even if the unfamiliar options are objectively better. Useful for designing interfaces and products that leverage familiar elements to enhance user comfort.
An approach that places the user's needs, preferences, and behaviors at the forefront of all design and development activities. Important for fostering a design culture that prioritizes user satisfaction and engagement.
A framework that explores the structure and function of stories and how they influence human cognition and behavior. Important for creating compelling and meaningful user experiences through storytelling.