Software delivery & AI engineering, defined.
Clear, practical definitions of the terms that come up when you scope, price, and ship software - written for decision-makers, not just engineers.
Story points
A unit of relative effort used to size software work instead of raw hours.
Read definitionMVP (Minimum Viable Product)
The smallest version of a product that delivers real value and validates the core bet.
Read definitionAI software factory
A governed delivery system where AI agents accelerate every phase and engineers own every decision.
Read definitionAI agents (in software delivery)
Specialized AI workers (scope, code, QA, DevOps...) that draft work for human review.
Read definitionHuman-in-the-loop
A workflow where AI proposes and a human reviews and approves before anything ships.
Read definitionRAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
Grounding an LLM's answers in your own data retrieved at query time.
Read definitionVector database
A database that stores embeddings to enable semantic / similarity search.
Read definitionAI copilot
An assistant embedded in a product or workflow that suggests actions with human oversight.
Read definitioniPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service)
A platform for connecting and automating data flow between business systems.
Read definitionWorkflow automation
Replacing manual, multi-step business processes with software that runs them reliably.
Read definitionSystem integration
Making separate software systems work together by sharing data and triggering actions.
Read definitionAPI (Application Programming Interface)
A defined contract that lets software systems talk to each other.
Read definitionCI/CD
Automated building, testing, and deploying of code on every change.
Read definitionObservability
Being able to understand a system's internal state from its logs, metrics, and traces.
Read definitionRelease management
The controlled process of shipping software safely with the ability to recover quickly.
Read definitionDelivery operations
The operational floor - CI/CD, QA, observability, security - every production build needs.
Read definitionTechnical debt
The future cost of shortcuts taken in code or architecture today.
Read definitionCode review
A peer (or senior) checking code for correctness, security, and maintainability before merge.
Read definitionChange request
A formal, priced change to agreed scope after a project starts.
Read definitionSoftware estimate
A structured prediction of a project's scope, cost, and timeline - ideally a delivery plan in draft.
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