Glossary
Acronyms dictionary
Here is a list of acronyms that the business commonly uses. Please feel free to suggest what other acronyms should be here and message us at [email protected] with suggestions.
- PM – Project Manager
- SL – Scrum lead (aka SM)
- SM – Scrum Master
- PO – Product Owner
- FTE – full time engagement
- 2fa – 2 factor authentication
- UI – user interface
- CSS – cascading style sheets
- OKR – objectives and key results
- OOO – Out Of Office
- AFK – Away from keyboard
- BTW – By the way
- FYI – For your information
- SMART – S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym that is used to guide the development of measurable goals. Each objective should be:
- Specific
- Measurable with Measurement
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-Oriented
Breakable Toy
A Breakable Toy is a side project you are excited and passionate about.
Breakdown
A breakdown happens when some possibility, intention or commitment is frustrated, stopped or thwarted.
It is when things don't go as expected or intended, or when you don't do as you said you would – "not keeping your word". Also known as a loss of integrity, a loss of workability.
Complete
When one is complete with any aspect of the past and therefore the past has no constraint on who one is being or how they are acting in the present. In communication, being complete is one being left with no lingering resentments, regrets or "unfinished business".
Often used in the phrase "Getting Complete". Also "Whole and Complete".
Deliberate Practice
Deliberate Practice is purposeful practice that is informed and structured by an understanding of the skill being developed and which incorporates clear, rapid feedback loops.
Read more in Deliberate Practice principle.
Design Lean Agile
Remember there is no "The" Process:
Racket
Racket = fixed way of being + a persistent complaint.
Reaction to a real or imagined threat.
| Payoff | Cost |
|---|---|
| Right / Wrong | Love / Affinity |
| Dominate / Avoid Domination | Vitality / Well-being |
| Justify yourself / Invalidate Others | Self-expression |
| Win / Lose | Satisfaction / Fulfillment |
Fundamental payoff: Avoid Responsibility. Fundamental cost: Aliveness.
Credit: Landmark Worldwide.
Responsibility
"Responsibility begins with the willingness to take the stand that one is cause in the matter of one's life. It is a declaration, not an assertion, that is, it is a context from which one chooses to live. Responsibility is not burden, fault, praise, blame, credit, shame or guilt. In responsibility, there is no evaluation of good or bad, right or wrong. There is simply what's so, and the stand you choose to take on what's so. Being responsible starts with the willingness to deal with a situation from the view of life that you are the generator of what you do, what you have and what you are. That is not the truth. It is a place to stand. No one can make you responsible, nor can you impose responsibility on another. It is a grace you give yourself – an empowering context that leaves you with a say in the matter of life."
(Landmark / Werner Erhard)
Sustainable Motivations
To only a fraction of the human race does God give the privilege of earning one's bread doing what one would have gladly pursued free, for passion. I am very thankful.
—Frederick Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month
From Apprenticeship Patterns:
Problem
Working in the trenches of real-world projects is rigorous, sometimes tedious, sometimes exhausting, often frustrating, and frequently overly chaotic or constraining.
Solution
Ensure that your motivations for craftsmanship will adapt and survive through the trials and tribulations of The Long Road.
There will be days, weeks, and months when you love your job. You’ll chuckle to yourself, in awe that you actually get paid to develop software. The software you write will flow effortlessly from your mind through your fingertips, beautiful to behold in function and design. These are good and extraordinary days. In other words, they are not your ordinary days.
..there is not much overlap between the kind of software that makes money and the kind of software that's interesting to write… If you want to make money, you tend to be forced to work on problems that are too nasty for anyone to solve for free. – Paul Graham, Hackers and Painters
As Paul Graham so rightly says, the typical programming job will put you face-to-face with tedious, vaguely defined, and needlessly complex problems. Nasty, wicked problems. What's more, you may also be faced with bureaucracy, difficult personalities, and spotty leadership. There will be days, weeks, and months when you question your commitment to the craft. When you are confronted with such problems, it is crucial that your motivations to program are aligned with walking The Long Road.
Ontology
Ontology = a view on the nature of being.
The words ontology and ontological are derived from the Greek word for being or existence.
We use ontology and ontological in their Heideggerian or modern existential sense: that is, as concerned with the nature and function of Being – and in particular, the nature and function of Being for human beings.
Note that we are not speaking of individual beings, but of the nature of Being for beings. Another way of speaking about this is: what is the nature of Being for human beings, and what is the possibility of Being for human beings? Or in short, what is it to be a human being?
Ontological is an adjective as in "this is an ontological proposition" (i.e. a proposition related to the nature of Being).
Ontology has two common uses: a) the study of Being ("he is working in Ontology") b) a position on the nature of e.g. "our ontology", meaning our position (or belief or hypothesis) about the nature of Being. We generally use it in this latter sense.
(For those with a philosophical background, we do not use ontological in an old or even new metaphysical sense – for example, in a "first causes of things" sense, or in a "takes up space or persists through time" sense, or in a "class of true propositions" sense, or in the Platonic sense of an a priori existence of ideal forms or archetypes.)
Credits: Erhard and Jensen adapted.
Promise
A task you want to complete in a given time.
A promise is a creation from your word. Don't get attached to it – walk the line of commitment and non-attachment.
A promise makes something real. It creates a game. It hones your skill estimating the duration of your work/tasks and builds the muscle of integrity and playing a big game.
Proficiency Levels
When discussing proficiency, we often utilize a five-level schema (from Dreyfus):
- Novice (unskilled, not knowing, new to);
- Competent (knows adequately, qualified);
- Proficient (practiced, skillful);
- Expert (well practiced, having versatile knowledge);
- Master (natural expression, generative, ability to transmit).
NB: many people modify this model to insert Beginner after Novice and remove Master.
See: Dreyfus paper.