A theory that explains how the amount of mental effort required to process information can impact user experience and task performance. Important for designing user interfaces that minimize unnecessary cognitive effort, enhancing usability and user satisfaction.
A design pattern that combines human and machine intelligence to enhance decision-making and problem-solving. Important for leveraging AI to support and amplify human capabilities.
Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act (OODA) is a decision-making framework often used in strategic planning and rapid response situations. Crucial for agile decision-making and strategic planning in dynamic environments.
Crit (Design Critique) is a structured feedback session where designers present their work and receive constructive feedback from peers. Essential for refining design quality through collaborative input.
Joint Application Development (JAD) is a collaborative approach to gathering requirements and designing solutions in software development projects. It facilitates rapid decision-making and consensus-building by bringing together key stakeholders, including users, developers, and project managers, in structured workshop sessions.
A design principle that states that contrasting elements (such as color, shape, size) can be used to draw attention and create visual interest. Important for creating visually engaging and accessible designs that guide user attention effectively.
The practice of guiding and inspiring teams to create effective, user-centered design solutions that align with business goals. Crucial for fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence in design practices within organizations.
A tool used in education to help learners organize and structure new information before learning it in detail. Useful for designing educational content and onboarding materials that facilitate better learning and retention.
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.
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 time-boxed period in which Agile teams deliver incremental value in the form of working, tested software and systems. Essential for aligning teams, managing dependencies, and ensuring continuous delivery.
A brainstorming technique that frames problems as opportunities for innovation, starting with the phrase "How might we...?". Essential for fostering creativity and generating solutions during the design process.
A theory that explains how individuals determine the causes of behavior and events, including the distinction between internal and external attributions. Crucial for understanding user behavior and designing experiences that address both internal and external factors.
Designing systems and processes to effectively respond to and manage crises, ensuring resilience and quick recovery. Crucial for preparing for unexpected events and minimizing their impact.
User-Centered Design (UCD) is an iterative design approach that focuses on understanding users' needs, preferences, and limitations throughout the design process. Crucial for creating products that are intuitive, efficient, and satisfying for the intended users.
The Principle of Choices is an information architecture guideline that emphasizes providing users with meaningful options to navigate and interact with a system. Crucial for enhancing user experience by ensuring users can easily find what they need without being overwhelmed.
The study of the interplay between individuals and their surroundings, including built environments and natural settings. Essential for designing spaces that enhance well-being and productivity.
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 process of working together with others to generate creative ideas and solutions, leveraging diverse perspectives and skills. Essential for producing innovative and well-rounded design solutions.
Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. Essential for assessing the effectiveness and profitability of marketing campaigns.
The process of maintaining, updating, and improving a product or system after its initial deployment to ensure its continued functionality, performance, and relevance to users. Crucial for ensuring long-term user satisfaction, product reliability, and adaptation to changing user needs and technological advancements.
Human in the Loop (HITL) integrates human judgment into the decision-making process of AI systems. Crucial for ensuring AI reliability and alignment with human values.
The process by which search engines systematically browse the internet to index and retrieve information from websites. Essential for understanding how search engines discover and index web content.
Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) is a machine learning technique that uses human input to guide the training of AI models. Essential for improving the alignment and performance of AI systems in real-world applications.
A behavior where users repeatedly bounce back and forth between a search engine results page and individual search results. Important for identifying issues in search result relevancy and user satisfaction.
A cognitive architecture model that explains how humans can learn and adapt to new tasks. Useful for understanding user learning and behavior adaptation, informing better user experience design.
The process of evaluating a product by testing it with real users to gather feedback and identify usability issues. Essential for validating design decisions and ensuring the product meets user needs.
A type of artificial intelligence that enables systems to learn from data and improve over time without being explicitly programmed. Crucial for developing intelligent systems that can make data-driven decisions.
The setting where software and systems are actually put into operation for their intended use. Essential for ensuring that products are fully functional and meet user requirements in a real-world setting.
Above the Line (ATL) refers to marketing activities carried out at a macro level to reach a large audience through mass media such as TV, radio, and print ads. Essential for building brand awareness and reaching a wide audience.
A prioritization framework used in product management to evaluate features based on Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. Crucial for making informed decisions about which product features to prioritize and develop.
Elements in a process that cause resistance or slow down user actions, which can lead to frustration or be used intentionally to prevent errors and encourage deliberate actions. Important for recognizing both the negative impact of unnecessary delays and the positive use of intentional friction to enhance user decision-making and reduce errors.
A visual technique used in Agile development to arrange user stories in a way that helps teams understand the user journey and prioritize work effectively. Crucial for ensuring that development efforts are aligned with user needs and priorities throughout the project.
The drive to perform an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequence. Crucial for designing experiences that engage users through inherent enjoyment and interest.
The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a comprehensive set of guidelines, best practices, and standards for project management. Essential for ensuring consistency and excellence in managing projects across various industries.
A type of testing conducted to determine if the requirements of a specification are met, often the final step before delivery to the customer. Important for ensuring that a product meets the defined criteria and is ready for release.
A non-production environment used for development and testing before deployment to production. Important for ensuring that changes are thoroughly tested before going live.
Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, and Ethical (STEEPLE) is an analysis tool that examines the factors influencing an organization. Crucial for comprehensive strategic planning and risk management in product design.
An informal usability testing method where random passersby are asked to try out a product or feature and provide feedback. Essential for quickly identifying usability issues with minimal resources.
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.
A method of comparing two versions of a webpage or app to see which performs better in terms of user engagement or conversions. Crucial for designers and product managers to test variations and optimize user experience and performance.
A research method that involves repeated observations of the same variables over a period of time. Crucial for understanding changes and developments over time.
A design philosophy that views constraints as opportunities for creativity and innovation, rather than limitations. Crucial for fostering a mindset that turns limitations into design strengths.
A testing method that examines the code, documentation, and requirements without executing the program. Important for identifying defects early in the development lifecycle, improving the quality and reducing the cost of digital products.
Adaptive Software Development (ASD) is a software development methodology that focuses on continuous adaptation to changing requirements and environments. Essential for managing changing requirements and ensuring agile project delivery.
The principle that elements in a digital interface maintain consistent appearance, position, and behavior across different pages and states to help users maintain orientation and familiarity. Important for creating a stable and predictable user experience, reducing disorientation and enhancing usability.
AI systems designed to communicate with users through natural language, enabling human-like interactions. Crucial for developing advanced customer service and user engagement solutions.
The process of designing, developing, and managing tools and techniques for measuring performance and collecting data. Essential for monitoring and improving system performance and user experience.
An estimation technique used in Agile software development where team members assign story points to tasks through consensus-based discussion. Essential for collaborative and accurate project planning and estimation.
A cognitive bias where people tend to remember the first and last items in a series better than those in the middle, impacting recall and memory. Crucial for designing information presentation to optimize user memory and recall.
The study of dynamic systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, leading to unpredictable behavior. Important for recognizing and managing unpredictable elements in design and development processes.
A quick and cost-effective usability testing method where feedback is gathered from users in informal settings, often in public places. Useful for gaining rapid insights into user behavior and improving designs iteratively.
The study of how new ideas, products, and processes are developed and brought to market. Essential for fostering creativity and ensuring the continuous improvement and relevance of products.
A deployment strategy that reduces downtime and risk by running two identical production environments, switching traffic between them. Crucial for ensuring seamless updates and minimizing disruptions in digital product deployment.
A medium through which a product or service is delivered to a customer, including physical and digital channels. Crucial for understanding how products and services reach end users.
Product Requirements is a document that outlines the essential features, functionalities, and constraints of a product. Crucial for guiding the development process and ensuring all stakeholders have a shared understanding of the product's goals.
Conversations with key stakeholders to gather insights, expectations, and feedback, ensuring their needs are understood and considered in the project. Essential for aligning project goals with stakeholder needs and obtaining valuable input for decision-making.
Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA) is a metric used to measure the average revenue generated per user or account. Crucial for understanding and optimizing revenue streams in subscription-based businesses.
A decentralized digital ledger that records transactions across many computers in a way that ensures the security and transparency of data. Crucial for understanding and implementing secure, transparent digital transactions and applications.
A comprehensive analysis of a website to assess its performance in search engine rankings and identify areas for improvement. Essential for diagnosing and enhancing a website's SEO performance.