Reference
Glossary
Use this glossary to keep consulting conversations consistent. When a client uses a term differently, capture the client-specific meaning in engagement notes.
Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ADR | Architecture decision record that captures context, decision, consequences, alternatives, and review triggers. |
| Artifact | A deployable or auditable output such as a container image, package, build, SBOM, or evidence export. |
| Break-glass | Emergency access path used when normal access or automation is unavailable. |
| Control | A policy, process, or technical mechanism that reduces risk or produces required evidence. |
| Drift | Difference between intended state and actual deployed state. |
| Error budget | Allowed unreliability over a period, derived from an SLO. |
| GitOps | Operating model where desired state is declared in Git and reconciled automatically. |
| Golden path | Supported workflow or template that makes the recommended way easy to adopt. |
| Landing zone | Baseline cloud environment with identity, network, logging, policy, and cost controls. |
| Paved road | Opinionated, supported path for teams to build, deploy, and operate software. |
| RPO | Recovery point objective: maximum acceptable data loss. |
| RTO | Recovery time objective: maximum acceptable time to restore service. |
| SBOM | Software bill of materials listing components in an artifact or application. |
| SLO | Service-level objective that describes expected reliability from the user's perspective. |
| Toil | Manual, repetitive operational work that scales with service usage or team count. |
| Workload identity | Identity assigned to software workloads instead of static credentials. |
Usage guidance
Prefer plain language with stakeholders. Use specialized terms only when they make decisions clearer, not to make simple ideas sound fancier.