Glossary

3D design in UX/UI refers to the creation of three-dimensional elements or environments within digital interfaces. It can enhance user engagement and provide more immersive experiences in applications, websites, or virtual reality environments.

A/B testing commonly compares two webpage versions to determine which performs better based on specific metrics. A/B testing (also known as split testing), is the comparison of two designs against each other to determine which performs better. An A/B test aims to compare the performance of two items or variations against one another. In product management, A/B tests are often used to test interface designs or features.

Application Programming Interfaces, or APIs, are pieces of software that help different applications communicate with each other. Products develop APIs to let you access and read information on their server easily.

The risk of political, social, or cultural factors influencing business.

How much more expensive a product is versus alternatives.

"Above the fold" refers to content that is visible at the top of a website; the user doesn't need to scroll to see it. "Below the fold" refers to content further down the page which the user would need to scroll in order to see. In UX, it's important to put meaningful, important content above the fold (for example, a header).

Credentialed professionals who provide research.

A form of vesting that manifests more quickly than strategized in a company's stock option plan. This allows individuals to receive monetary benefits from their options earlier.

Typically, the a programme that offers mentorship, brand/marketing crash course and some capital for startups in exchange for equity. Offering varies by accelerator but is usually suited to early stage startups with inexperienced founding teams. Fixed-term programs that provide mentorship, valuable advice, and training for entrepreneurs. Oftentimes, these programs culminate in a pitch event.

In agile methodologies, acceptance criteria refers to a set of predefined requirements that must be met in order to mark a user story complete.

What is an acceptance test? Learn more about acceptance testing and other agile practices and terminology in our agile glossary.

Designing experiences for people with disabilities. Accessibility or accessible design helps users of all abilities to interact with a product. The practice of designing experiences for people who experience disabilities. This means considering and designing for people who are color blind, blind, deaf, and people with cognitive disabilities, etc. Accessibility considers whether or not---and to what extent---a product or service can be used by everybody. Designing for accessibility means factoring in the needs of people with disabilities, as well as the various ways in which a person might interact with your product (for example, using assistive technology).

Accordions are UI components that expand to reveal hidden information when clicked. They allow users to view only the content they're interested in, saving space and reducing cognitive load.

The act of acquiring a company for the purpose of hiring the team behind it. Key employees may be tied in for a specified period of time.

An acquisition is when one company or investment group buys another company. This is a common mechanism for exit.

The act of winning a new customer.

What is an Action Priority Matrix? An action priority matrix is a diagram that helps people determine which tasks to focus on, and in which order.

Customer whose most recent purchase was made in the last 12 months.

Active listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to demonstrate the act of alert, intentional hearing in order to extract the meaning from what the speaker is saying. Active listening engages users during research, emphasizing empathy for user-centered design and improvement.

Measurable amount of users taking action on a product or platform. See also Daily Active Users and Monthly Active Users.

An activity feed is a UI component that displays a list of recent actions or updates, often used in social media platforms or collaborative tools to keep users informed of recent changes or interactions.

Adaptive design is an approach to web design where the layout and features of a website change based on the capabilities of the user's device. Unlike responsive design, which uses flexible layouts, adaptive design detects the device and loads a pre-set layout for that device.

Adaptive Software Development (ASD) is a direct outgrowth of an earlier agile framework, Rapid Application Development (RAD). It aims to enable teams to quickly and efficiently build high-quality software systems.

The total possible market of a product.

Adobe XD is a vector-based user experience design tool for web apps and mobile apps, developed and published by Adobe Inc. It's used for creating wireframes, prototypes, and screen designs for digital products. Adobe stopped developing support for XD in 2023 during the attempted acquisition of Figma.

A person who helps the startup and does their best to maximize its success. They provide value in the form of connections, time, and expertise and are often compensated in equity.

A document that outlines an advisor's commitment to a company and sometimes grants him/her a small amount of equity.

A group of external advisors who provide strategic advice.

A sales method wherein companies present their products to other individuals or companies who will sell the company's products for a commission.

An affinity diagram helps teams visualise and review large amounts of information by grouping items into categories. Affinity Diagramming is frequently used following brainstorming sessions. This technique helps in identifying patterns and generating insights from complex information. Also called Affinity grouping.

Affordances are clues that tell us how an element should behave. An affordance refers to all the actions that are possible with a specific object or element, depending on the user's capabilities. For example, a cupboard has the potential to be opened but only if you can reach the handle. A car has the potential to be driven but only if you are able to open the car door, start the engine and so on. When designing digital products, the goal is to create elements whose affordances (i.e. possible actions) match the user's expectations. For example, if you design a button, the user will likely expect to be able to click it. In usability terms, Affordance refers to an objects characteristics in relation to its function. Affordances are clues that tell us how an element should behave.

Agile is an incremental approach to software development. The methodology incorporates iteration, continuous delivery, and feedback cycles called "Sprints". Agile is an iterative product-development methodology in which teams work in brief, incremental "sprints," and then regroup frequently to review the work and make course corrections as needed.

An agile framework is one of many documented software-development approaches based on the agile philosophy articulated in the Agile Manifesto.

The Agile Manifesto is a brief document built on 4 values and 12 principles for agile software development. The Agile Manifesto was published in February of 2001 by 17 software developers.

There are 12 agile principles outlined in The Agile Manifesto in addition to the 4 agile values. These 12 principles for agile software development help guide agile organizations, teams, and their projects.

What is an Agile Product Owner? In an agile organization, the product owner is responsible for prioritizing and overseeing the development team's tasks and for representing the customer's needs.

What is an agile release train? An Agile Release Train (ART) is a feature of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). It is a long-term, cross-functional team of agile teams, which along with other stakeholders, develops and delivers solutions incrementally.

Agile transformation is the process of transitioning an entire organization to a nimble, reactive approach based on agile principles. Understanding agile transformation begins with understanding the agile mindset.

Agile UX integrates user experience into Agile development, emphasizing flexibility, feedback, and cross-functional collaboration.

Agile Values refers to the set of 4 values outlined by the Agile Alliance in The Agile Manifesto. This set of values encourages putting individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan.

Alert notifications are UI components that inform users about important updates, errors, or actions required. They're designed to grab the user's attention and convey information quickly and clearly.

Alignment is the design principle that is used to create structure and readability. It builds order and helps lead people through your design.

The size of the round that is set aside for a specific investor (or fund, group of investors etc), usually communicated in a £ value.

An alpha test is typically conducted by a product manager at the point when development is near completion. It generally occurs before any beta testing. A pre-release version of a product. This is often still part of the testing process.

Analytics measure human behavior on a site. They help us better understand and interpret patterns of behaviour on the products we use. A broad term that encompasses a variety of tools, techniques, and processes used to better understand and interpret patterns of behaviour on the products we use. Analytics in UX often measures user behavior.

Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google. UX designers working on Android applications need to follow specific design guidelines and patterns to ensure their apps are consistent with the platform's user experience.

An angel investor is someone who invests their own capital into the growth of a small business at an early stage (an alternative to VC as a source of equity capital, often associated with earlier stager businesses). An individual who provides capital for a business or startup, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. Angel investors are often the first outside investors in a startup as they invest even before venture capital firms. Also know as an Angel group.

A small round of funding that is at the earliest stages of the company. It is meant for angel investors, angel investor groups, friends, and family. Angel rounds in the US are typically done via SAFE notes or convertible notes, under $1M in size and under $10M in valuation cap.

In product design, animation refers to the use of motion to enhance user interactions, guide attention, explain changes in the interface, and provide feedback. Well-designed animations can significantly improve the user experience and make interfaces feel more responsive and alive.

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Annual recurring revenue is predictable income that a business receives each year. Annualised version of MRR. A subscription metric that shows the yearly money that comes in every year from the life of a subscriber. ARR is a key metric for SaaS startups. It is sometimes said that the valuation of a SaaS startup is 10 times its ARR - although this is a very rough approximation.

A contractual clause that protects an investor from having their investment (as a percentage of ownership) significantly reduced in subsequent fundraising rounds.

Anticipatory Design is an approach to design where decisions are anticipated and made on behalf of customers, thus removing the need for choice and reducing cognitive load.

Opportunity to improve an app or turn it into something more desireable.

An unconsciously inherited and ever-present idea or notion.

Artificial Intelligence is the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, and decision-making.

A research tactic where users are asked which words come to mind when they think of a certain product.

A technology that adds a computer-generated, visual layer on top of the real world. For example, generating graphics, sound, or video into a live view of the user's physical environment in real-time. In product design, AR can be used to create immersive experiences that blend digital and physical environments.

Auto Layout is a feature in design tools like Figma that automatically adjusts the layout of elements based on their content and constraints. It helps designers create responsive designs more efficiently and ensures consistency across different screen sizes.

Avatar is an object that represents the user's identity on screen. Avatars are one of the most common UI elements usually within a circle or square. We have avatars in business apps, social networks, games. Avatars represent users online who have not uploaded an image for themselves. You'll commonly see them in comment threads or in games.

Total revenue divided by number of users.

A for-profit business dedicated to addressing social and environmental issues.

Business-to-business. It is a form of transaction that takes place between one business and another. The business is the end user. B2B is usually segmented by contract size - small offices, SMBs, mid-market, and enterprise. For example, Salesforce is a B2B company.

Business-to-business-to-consumer. It is a business that extends the B2B model to include e-commerce for consumers.

Business-to-consumer. It is a form of transaction that takes place between a business and an individual. The individual is the end user. For example, Tinder is mostly a B2C company.

Business as usual. This refers to the day-to-day operations of a company.

Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Am extremely ambitious target to motivate progress.

A brief business model designed to fit on the back of a napkin.

Backend development refers to the server-side of web application development. Think about back-end as the portion that the user doesn't see, acting as the backbone logic and code that gives an application functionality.

Incoming links to a website or a particular web page.

The backlog is a list of tasks to be completed. The list is prioritized and ideally, the tasks will be completed in the order listed.

Backlog grooming, also referred to as backlog refinement or story time, is a recurring event for agile product development teams. The primary purpose of backlog grooming is to ensure the backlog contains the appropriate items, that these items are prioritized, and that the items at the top of the backlog are ready for delivery.

Badges are small UI elements used to highlight or add information to another element. They're often used to display notifications, status updates, or to categorize content.

Online advertising tactic wherein an advertisement is embedded in a web page.

Banners are prominent, typically rectangular sections of a user interface used to display important messages, advertisements, or calls to action. They're designed to attract user attention and often appear at the top of a webpage or app screen.

Probability calculated by a combination of prior knowledge and accumulated experience.

What is Behavioral Product Management? Behavioral product management applies behavioral science and human psychology to product design. When planning their products, behavioral product managers consider how users are likely to act rather than how they should act.

The metric used by a company to gauge their success. An evaluate something, such as a user interface, against a standard or external comparator such as when comparing a website with a competitor.

A product released to a limited public audience to test the product before it is officially launched. Beta comes after alpha. Some startups may release a "private beta" (invite-based) or a "public beta" (anyone can signup) as a way to bring to market a product that may still be buggy or unpolished. Google Domains famously remained in beta for over 7 years.

A beta test is a widespread pre-launch distribution of a product (typically software), in which users are asked to try the product and provide feedback.

A research method where participants are divided into separate groups to test different conditions of a variable.

Someone who is incredibly knowledgeable and considered an expert in their field.

A type of measurement that results in one of two possible outcomes.

Blind voting is where the votes from each person included in the poll remain hidden or secret until all votes are cast. This prevents bias and vote influencing.

An organisation's standard description that is used repetitively. Oftentimes, boilerplates are placed at the bottom of email correspondence.

Phrase that describes an idea that is either too broad or trying to achieve too much.

The process of starting a company via one's own personal savings. If the company has any sales, that is also used to fuel the growth of the company. Essentially, bootstrapping means self-funding. A company that takes funding from angel investors or VC firms is not a bootstrapped company anymore. Some founders manage to stay bootstrapped all the way to an exit, such as PentyOfFish ($575M exit) or Mailchimp ($12B exit).

A comparison of net income versus net expenses, resulting in net profit. The word "bottom" refers to the fact that the net profit often appears at the bottom of financial reports. Also referred to as Net Income or Net Profit.

A type of visual brainstorming where a group of people sketches ideas for designs and visual concepts.

Brainstorming is the process of generating ideas and solutions in a short amount of time. The process of generating ideas and solutions in a short amount of time. This main technique is divided into two sub-techniques: Brainwriting and Brainwalking.

Method to quickly brainstorm by having a group of people write down their ideas and share them anonymously.

Integration of all available communication streams in order to activate consumers and generate brand recognition.

The "family tree" of a company, detailing the different brands controlled by a company and their relationships.

A brand's power, derived from name recognition and reputation, that has been earned over time. Brands with high equity often generate higher sales and relatively increased profit margins.

A brand's reputation as perceived by an individual.

The launching of a new product in a new market area under an established brand from a different market.

The intended customer perception of a brand, orchestrated via name, logo, practices, and communication style.

The bundle of associations, within a customer's mind, between a brand and the rest of the world.

The act of allowing a manufacturer to produce and sell products under a particular brand name in return for a percentage of the sales profit.

The story of a brand's ideas, origins, and experiences as they relate to customers.

The attribution of human traits or personality to a brand in order to achieve differentiation and authenticity.

The details of to whom a brand intends to appeal and how this will be achieved.

The process of creating and marketing a consistent idea or image of a product, so that it is recognisable by the public.

Breadcrumb is a type of navigation to help users understand their location in a website or app. They'll show a sequence of steps users have to take to get where they are. Breadcrumb navigation systems help users understand their location in a website or app. They'll show a sequence of steps users have take to get where they are.

The amount of revenue that will cover all of a company's operating costs.

In responsive design, a breakpoint is the screen size value at which the layout or functionality changes. For instance, a breakpoint of around 600px often marks the switching point between mobile and desktop layouts.

Refers to a period when the valuations of startups are abnormally high when compared to historic valuations.

Product managers can use bubble sort to arrange a string of initiatives in the correct order based on prioritization scores.

Bucket Sort is a sorting technique that places items in buckets, or categories. These items are then prioritized or ranked within each bucket.

The feedback loop used to continually research and improve a product.

The pace at which a new company is running through its startup capital ahead of it generating any positive cash flow. For example, a company may have a burn rate of $20,000, meaning they spend 20,000 per month. Rate at which a company spends cash reserves to cover expenses, expressed monthly or weekly. Usually applied to a company with little or no revenues.

What is a burndown chart and how are they used? Learn more about burndown charts and other terminology in our product management glossary.

What is Business Agility? Business agility applies the principles of agile development to the entire organization. This allows companies to be more responsive to market changes and customer needs.

A business case is the justification or reasoning behind initiating a project or activity. In many cases, the business case is formalized in writing or a presentation but can also be communicated verbally.

Business Intelligence (BI), is a method of compiling, analyzing and interpreting business data to make better-informed decisions. BI data is typically compiled through extensive market research and analyzed by experts.

A business model canvas is a one-page summary describing the high-level strategic details needed to get a business (or product) successfully to market. The canvas typically includes sections for key activities, key resources, partner network, customer segments, channels, cost structure, and revenue streams.

What is Business Transformation? Business transformation is an umbrella term for making fundamental changes in how a business or organization runs. This includes personnel, processes and technology.

A contest between startups, early-stage businesses, and/or growing businesses, the goal of which is for participants to develop and submit an original idea or complete their existing business plan.

Buttons are interactive UI elements that allow users to take actions or make choices. They're fundamental to user interaction in digital interfaces and should be designed to be easily recognizable and clickable.

Buy-a-Feature is one of many prioritization frameworks product managers can use. It's commonly used to help organizations identify the features that customers and key stakeholders value most.

An investment transaction where one party buys all or the majority of a company's shares to gain control of the target company. A common exit strategy in which a company's shares are purchased, granting the purchaser a controlling interest in the company.

Customer acquisition cost. This is the cost related to acquiring a new customer. This allows companies to gauge how much they are spending on each new customer. CAC is typically used with LTV (Customer Lifetime Value). Ideally, the LTV/CAC ratio should be 3, which means you should make 3x of what you would spend on acquiring a customer.

The CIRCLES method is a problem-solving framework that helps product managers (PMs) make a thorough and thoughtful response to product design questions.

Call-to-action (CTA) button is a UI element that triggers the main action that the user is encouraged to take. Popular CTA examples are "buy", "contact", "subscribe", "log in" and so on.

A message that invites a reader, user, or consumer to take an action such as download, buy, read. A call to action (CTA) is a message that invites a reader, user, or consumer to take an action such as download, buy, read.

Capital is a term for financial assets, such as funds held in deposit accounts and/or funds obtained from special financing sources such as investment or loans.

A UI component that provides a summary and an entry point to additional information and visually resembles a playing card. It can include multiple UI elements, such as media, text, buttons and tags, but should function as a single unit with a shared function. For instance, if a card links out to another area of the site, clicking anywhere on the card should redirect you there.

Card sorting helps understand users' content organization, aiding design. Participants categorize topics, guiding navigation and structure. A research method in which study participants group individual labels according to criteria that make sense to them. This method helps designers to group items into categories and create an information architecture of a site or application. Card sorting can be "open" (if the categories are not defined in advance of the study and participants group similar items into clusters) or "closed" (if a predefined set of categories is given to participants and they are asked to assign items to these categories). In a card sorting exercise, we'll give users topics, cards, and a Sharpie pen. We will then ask users to write down the topics on the cards and organize them in a way that makes sense to them. This exercises helps us understand and design the information architecture of a site.

A UI component that allows multiple pieces of content to occupy a shared space by appearing on rotation. Carousels are most commonly used for image galleries, allowing a user to swipe through an entire album without having to scroll.

Carousels are UI components that display a series of items in a rotating manner. They're often used to showcase featured content or products, allowing users to browse through multiple items in a limited space.

The share of generated profits that an investment manager is entitled to keep as compensation. Can also be referred to as an "Incentive Fee" or a "Performance Fee.", ranging from 15%-30%. The portion of investment gains to which fund managers are entitled without contributing their own capital.

Type of accounting that reports all revenue and expenditures when payments are sent. This form of accounting is optimal for startups and companies with small inventories.

Net amount of cash moving into and out of a business. Positive cash flow indicates that a company's liquid assets are increasing while negative cash flow indicates the opposite.

Simply put, a company has more money moving into it rather than out of it. It indicates that the liquid assets are growing.

A financial document that is used to manage finances by tracking the cash flow of a company. It is one of the three main financial document of a company, along with the balance sheet and P&L.

A startup that has $100 million in annual recurring revenue. This is a derivative of the famous "Unicorn startup" concept.

Refers to a single value that represents the entire dataset succinctly. Typically, this is the average, or arithmetic mean.

What is a Certified Product Manager? A certified product manager is a PM who has completed an education program from a product industry organization and received a certification.

Charts are visual representations of data used to make complex information more understandable. In UX design, choosing the right type of chart and designing it for clarity and accessibility is crucial for effective data visualization.

The transition from a little-known product to the mainstream. If a startup can successfully cross the chasm, they have the opportunity for mainstream success and hypergrowth. The concept stems from the renowned book "Crossing the chasm" by Geoffrey Moore.

ChatGPT is an AI language model developed by OpenAI. In UX design, it can be used to generate content, assist in user research analysis, or even help in creating conversational interfaces.

A chatbot is an AI-powered conversational interface that simulates human-like interactions to assist users. In UX design, chatbots can be used to provide instant customer support, guide users through processes, or offer personalized recommendations.

An interactive UI element that allows a user to make a binary choice, for example, a "yes" or a "no". In contrast with the radio buttons, in a list of checkboxes each choice is independent, meaning the user can select one, several or all of the options.

Checkboxes are UI elements that allow users to select one or more options from a list. They're commonly used in forms and settings pages to enable multiple selections.

What is a Chief Product Officer? A chief product officer (CPO) is a corporate title referring to an executive who leads the entire product organization within a company.

Chips are compact UI elements that represent input, attributes, or actions. They're often used to display selected filters, tags, or contact information in a space-efficient manner.

Churn is a measurement of the percentage of accounts that cancel or choose not to renew their subscriptions. A high churn rate can negatively impact Monthly Recurring Revenue and can also serve as an indicator of product dissatisfaction. The number of customers lost within a given period of time expressed as a percentage. See also churn / retention rate.

The percentage of existing customers who stop doing business with the startup over a specific time period. For example, successful SaaS companies report annual churn rates between 5% and 7%. A high churn means low retention, which may indicate a low product-market fit. For early-stage startups, it is recommended to fix your churn before focusing on customer acquisition. Also known as retention rate, the churn rate is the annual percentage rate at which customers stop subscribing to a product or service. In this context, it reflects how many customers leave a startup annually, as a %.

When you land on a site, you click your way through it to complete a task. This is what a clickstream represents: the path of clicks you took on it to accomplish a goal.

An analytics method that involves analyzing the sequence of pages that users visit as they use a site or application. It can provide insights about potential issues, typical navigation routes, and the content that users interact with right before completing key actions on a site or in an application.

The person or group of people who are the direct beneficiary of a particular product or service. Ideally, these are the people for whom the product is designed.

In closed card sorts, researchers provide pre-determined categories for participants to sort cards into.

The final stage in the investment process, where legal documents are signed and an investment becomes official.

A measurement for sales effectiveness determined by the number of proposals per sale.

Co-creation is the method by which products, services, and processes are created with the involvement of the organisation plus customers or users and other third parties, such as agencies.

A joint founder with whom equity is shared.

An agreement detailing the nature, function, and equity split of a company.

Cognitive biases are errors in reasoning, memory, or other cognitive processes that result from holding onto existing beliefs regardless of contrary information. There are more than 100 documented cognitive biases, commonly categorized into four categories: biases that arise from too much information, not enough meaning, the need to act quickly, and the limits of memory. Cognitive biases are particularly important to be aware of while conducting research, as a way of arriving at truer findings instead of relying on personal preferences.

Cognitive load refers to the amount of effort that is exerted or required while reasoning and thinking. Any mental process, from memory to perception to language, creates a cognitive load because it requires energy and effort. When cognitive load is high, thought processes are potentially interfered with. To the UX designer, a common goal when designing interfaces would be to keep users' cognitive load to a minimum.

Cognitive load refers to the amount of mental effort required to use a product. UX designers aim to reduce cognitive load by creating intuitive interfaces, using familiar patterns, and presenting information in manageable chunks.

Cognitive walkthrough is a usability method carried out by a trained professional who attempts to identify usability issues by mimicking the actions of a user. A cognitive walkthrough is a usability evaluation technique used to test how easy it is for new users to perform certain actions on a website or application.

A customer group created due to a unifying trend or factor making that group unique.

Attempting to identify trends by breaking up users into different experimental groups.

Color is a fundamental aspect of visual design that can significantly impact user experience. In UX design, color is used to create visual hierarchy, convey meaning, evoke emotions, and enhance brand identity.

The process of bringing new products and services to the market. Similar to "going to market".

A class of stock that represents ownership in a company. It is the basic form of stock issued by any company.

Competitor analysis in strategic terms is a technique used to evaluate and identify the marketing and business strategy of competitive brands, businesses, and products. In user experience terms it is applied to identifying and analysing competitor's web, mobile or digital strategies. Identifying competitors and recognizing their strengths and weaknesses compared to one's own.

What is Competitive Intelligence? Competitive intelligence is defined as data-driven insight into the competitive landscape of your target market. Consequently, it breaks down where competitors' strengths and weaknesses lie, market trends, and potential opportunities for your product.

What is competitive landscape? The term refers to the list of options a customer could choose rather than your product.

A competitor or competitive analysis is the process of identifying companies that offer products and/or services similar to yours and conducting an analysis of their relative strengths and weaknesses. It involves assessing competitors' products, services, and sales and marketing tactics and strategies to identify opportunities for your business to differentiate your offerings.

What is a concept review? The term refers to the initial idea for a new product or feature and its implementation.

A manual service simulating the same exact steps people would go through with a final product.

Represents the probable range within which the true value for an entire population lies.

Researchers select this value, with common choices in UX research being 95% or 90%.

An unseen factor that affects both the independent and dependent variables, leading to a misleading association between them.

Limitations outside the control of a project team. For example, date time-line limits, or finite resources.

Content design is the practice of using content and language to create user-centered experiences. It involves planning, creating, and managing content to meet both user needs and business goals.

Software that allows publishing, editing, and maintaining content from a central interface.

A form of marketing which involves the creation and distribution of content (in any medium) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to generate interest in products or services. A marketing approach based on the creation and distribution of valuable and relevant content for potential customers to digest.

Content strategists help maximize the usability and profitability of content, throughout the full content lifecycle: analyzing, planning, writing, editing, distributing, managing, and monitoring content. Due to the wide breadth of this field, the work that content strategists do often affect and involve information architecture and the user experience.

Content Strategy is the planning, development, and management of content - written or in other media. The strategy, organization, and management of content that aligns between the user and business goals.

Content strategy focuses on the planning, development, and management of content. In UX, it ensures that content supports user needs, is consistent across platforms, and aligns with overall business objectives.

The context of use defines where and how a product is used, guiding design through research and usability tests.

Contextual enquiry is a user research method which involves observing and interviewing users while they interact with your product in their "natural" environment. So, rather than asking them questions about their experience of the product after they've used it, you watch them in action and ask questions directly at the source to fill in any gaps.

Contextual inquiry is a type of field study in which the researcher watches the user as they naturally perform their task in their normal environment (e.g., home, office) and asks for information to understand how and why the user did what they did. Contextual inquiry is a combination of in-depth observation and interview and aims to gain a robust understanding of work practices and behaviors. Contextual inquiry is typically conducted in the early discovery stages of a project.

Contextual help, also known as context-sensitive help, provides support for the user relative to the area they are currently interacting with. For example, if you're completing a form, contextual help will provide inline feedback allowing you to correct your errors before submission of the form.

In software product development, continuous delivery (CD) is the successful execution of continuous deployment. Whereas continuous deployment aims to reduce the amount of time between writing code and pushing it to production, continuous delivery ensures that code can be rapidly and safely deployed at any time.

In software product development, continuous deployment refers to a strategy that aims to reduce the amount of time between writing code and pushing it to production.

What Is Continuous Improvement? Continuous improvement is a company culture that encourages all employees to look for ways to enhance the business's operations. This approach can lead to incremental changes that add up to significant improvements over time.

Continuous integration or CI, refers to an engineering practice that is said to help automate certain pieces of work and identify bugs early in the development process.

An example of a continuous metric is the time spent on a task, which can vary infinitely within its limits.

An individual's journey to discovering a product and becoming a customer.

The ratio of closed deals and secured customers compared to the amount of prospective customers at various stages of the funnel. The Conversion Rate of a product or site is the percentage of users who complete a desired action. For example, an e-commerce website's desired action is a successful purchase. The Conversion Rate would tell us how many users bought an item.

Conversion rate is the percentage of users who take a desired action (such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter) out of the total number of visitors. It's a key metric in measuring the effectiveness of UX design.

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is the methodical process of making iterative changes to a website or app to increase the percentage of users who take a desired action (usually sign up, purchase, register etc).

Investments designed to turn into equity at a future point in time, when a company is first valued. This is a useful method for young companies to attract investment prior to valuation.

A method for seed stage investors and angels to invest in an early stage company that hasn't been explicitly valued. After more information becomes known, the note can be converted into equity. Put simply, a Convertible Note (CN) is debt finance, a type of convertible security that converts into equity. In terms of using a convertible note for seed funding, the debt automatically converts into shares when Series A closes. Rather than a loan from a creditor accumulating interest, a convertible note from an investor converts into equity based on pre-agreed terms.

Type of stock that lets shareholders convert their preferred shares into common shares after a set date.

Online advertising pricing strategy in which payment is based upon the effective results of that advertisement, oftentimes measured in sales

Online advertising pricing strategy in which payment is based upon the effective results of that advertisement, oftentimes measured in sales or registration numbers.

A standard measurement for the cost of advertisements, measured by cost of advertisements per 1,000 created impressions.

An analysis of the costs of business expenses versus the necessity of these expenses.

Cost of delay (CoD) is a prioritization framework that helps a business quantify the economic value of completing a project sooner as opposed to later.

The expense required to produce the goods sold by a company. Oftentimes, this means the cost of raw materials plus the cost of labor.

A cottage business is one that is unlikely to scale dramatically and therefore does not present a viable investment for a VC or Angel, but could lifestyle business for a founder.

Counterbalancing in experimental research controls for the order of stimulus presentation's impact on the dependent variable.

Ability to reach creative solutions by framing problems in new ways.

An accounting entry that either decreases total assets or increases liability.

Consumer behavior that proves which products are substitutes for each other.

A cross-functional team refers to a group which contains expertise or representation from various "functional" departments. For example, an agile cross-functional team may consist of a product manager, designer, and developers.

Cross-platform compatibility refers to the ability of a software application, website, or system to function effectively across different operating systems, browsers, or device types.

The process of generating money to fund a business via many individual donors across an online platform. Crowdfunding (not to be confused with crowdsourcing) refers to generating capital from brand advocates or early adopters in place of giving away equity, usually via a third party platform. In simple terms, asking a large number of people for a small amount of money each. See also equity crowdfunding.

A form of crowdsourcing where individuals get equity in return for their funding. Because this is a heavily regulated environment, crowdinvesting is usually done via specialized crowdinvesting platforms.

The practice of referring to a body of people to obtain needed knowledge, goods, or services. Crowdsourcing (not to be confused with crowdfunding) refers to obtaining input into a task or project by enlisting a large number of people, generally for free. For example, asking a Reddit sub for an opinion on a rapid prototype rather than paying for a focus group.

What is the Crystal Method? Crystal is an agile framework focusing on individuals and their interactions, as opposed to processes and tools. In other words, it emphasizes people over processes and tools.

Assets that will be used within one year.

Debts that are payable within one year.

An important metric in unit economics, the CAC allows a company to keep track of how much it costs to acquire a new customer. Calculated as direct acquisition costs (generally marketing and sales expenses) divided by the number of new customers, the CAC allows a startup to understand which channels deliver the best ROI for marketing spend. Customer Acquisition Cost, or CAC, measures how much you're spending to acquire new customers. Analyzing CAC in conjunction with LTV or MRR is a key metric for understanding the efficiency of your growth strategy.

A customer advisory board is a group of customers who come together on a regular basis to share insights and advice with an organization. Members are often executives in their companies. Most customer advisory boards have 10-12 members, each bringing unique backgrounds and perspectives to the table.

Customer development is the portion of the Lean Startup methodology aimed at understanding the problem. This requires first fully vetting the opportunity and validating the proposed solution.

Customer empathy is understanding the underlying needs and feelings of customers. It goes beyond recognizing and addressing their tactical requirements and puts things into their perspective.

The DACI decision-making framework is a model designed to improve a team's effectiveness and velocity on projects, by assigning team members specific roles and responsibilities in the decision-making process.

A DEEP Backlog is one of the suggested objectives of a product backlog grooming session. DEEP is an acronym used to indicate a few key qualities that a good product backlog should have: Detailed appropriately, Estimated, Emergent, and Prioritized.

The amount of users of a service or product in a 24 hour period.

What is a daily scum? Daily scrums are quick meetings held each day for the members of the product development team working on a sprint. They typically last no more than 15 minutes and are used to synchronize activities and create a plan for the next 24 hours.

Tricks used in websites and apps that cause unintended user action, like buying or signing up for things that you didn't mean to. For example, a checkbox beneath a password field when signing up in, but instead of "Keep me logged in", it says, "I agree to subscribe to this newsletter." That's a dark pattern -- when a product tricks you into buying or signing up for things that you actually don't want.

Dark UX is not a term you ever want to be associated with as a UX designer. It's the practice of deliberately designing in a way that tricks the user or subtly pushes them towards an action they probably don't want to take. A classic example of dark UX is making it confusing for users to cancel their subscription. You can read about common dark UX patterns (and more user-friendly alternatives) here.

A dashboard is a user interface that organizes and presents important information in a way that's easy to read and understand. It's often used in analytics tools, admin panels, or any context where users need to monitor multiple data points at a glance.

Querying large sets of data for precise analysis.

A data product manager focuses on collecting, organizing, storing, and sharing product management data within an organization.

Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms, and systems to extract knowledge and insights from data. The goal is to uncover valuable insights that help us make better product decisions.

Data visualization is the graphical representation of information and data. In UX design, effective data visualization helps users understand complex data sets quickly and make informed decisions.

A data room (also known as a virtual data room) is an online repository of information that is used for the storing and distribution of documents. Generally used to house documents relating to due diligence in funding rounds.

Data saturation occurs when the research process has gathered a sufficient amount of data to draw essential conclusions, and collecting additional data would no longer result in additional valuable insights.

The rate at which investment opportunities are introduced to a funding institution.

Central location where investment pitches and negotiations take place.

The investor who takes responsibility for setting the terms and driving the process for the investment. The lead investor bears the costs and responsibility of running the due diligence and getting a board seat. For that reason, most investors prefer "following" rather than "leading" a round, and founders find it hard to secure a lead for their rounds.

Document provided to the investment committee of a VC firm that outlines the key facts of the company, deal, and investment suggestions.

An accounting entry that increases assets or reduces liability.

Loans that must be repaid over time.

Debt capital is the capital/finance that a business raises by taking out a loan or other financial security (in this context, debt capital can be an alternative to equity capital).

Money-raising tactic in which a company sells bonds or notes to an investor with the assumption that they will be re-purchased with interest.

A decision matrix -- sometimes referred to as a prioritisation matrix -- is a framework used to evaluate and prioritise ideas based on a set of predetermined criteria. In UX, it can help you to weigh up different design options and make informed decisions that balance available time and resources against the needs of the user.

A measurement of how much value an idea can ultimately deliver.

In the Scrum agile framework, Definition of Done describes the requirements that must be met in order for a story to be considered complete. It's a shared understanding among the team of what it means for work to be complete.

Definition of Ready describes the requirements that must be met in order for a story to move from the backlog to development. In keeping with agile principles, it ensures that work is well-defined before it begins.

A tangible outcome produced by a project. Internal deliverables are created by a project and are used by the company itself. External deliverables are created for clients, stakeholders, or customers. A single project can create many sets of deliverables.

An event organized by an accelerator, incubator, or VC firm where founders formed by that organization pitch their product to investors. Demo Days used to be in-person events, but are now increasingly hybrid events with the possibility to join in remotely.

In project management, a dependency describes a relationship between two initiatives that must be executed in a particular order. If Initiative A is dependent on Initiative B, it means that B must be completed before A can begin.

Dependency management is the process of tracking and minimizing disruptions between dependencies. Effective dependency management can reduce risks and increase the likelihood that your project will be completed on time and within budget.

The factor being measured in a study, anticipated to change in response to alterations in the independent variable.

In product management, a design concept is a short description of the idea behind a planned product.

Design debt (or UX debt) is the result of taking shortcuts in the design process in order to quickly reach a solution or produce a deliverable. This can lead to problems down the line and can ultimately result in a negative user experience. You might accumulate design debt if you skip user research or user testing, if you ignore style guidelines or neglect to keep adequate documentation. The Nielsen Norman Group has published a useful guide on how to identify, prioritise and resolve design debt here.

Often a take-home "quiz" of sorts to determine a design process. Sometimes a part of UX interviews.

The skill of facilitating design process and efforts, such as presenting to stakeholders or conducting design workshops.

What is design ops, and why should you adapt it for your culture? Learn the basics of design ops and how to incorporate it into your organization's workflow.

Repeatable design elements and components, often leveraging widespread user recognition to aid in the design process. For example, a hamburger menu is now a design pattern that most users know how to interact with.

Design patterns are reusable solutions to common design problems. They provide consistency across different parts of an application or website, making the interface more intuitive and easier to use.

The Design Sprint is a 5-day (sometimes shorter) process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers.

A design system is a collection of reusable components, guided by clear standards, that can be assembled together to build any number of applications. A universal source of truth for the design team---a collection of design assets, guidelines, constraints and best practices to adhere to when embarking on a new design project.

A design system is a collection of reusable components, guided by clear standards, that can be assembled to build any number of applications or websites. It ensures consistency in design and development across large organizations or complex products.

Design thinking is a 5-stage method for creative problem-solving. The 5 stages are: Empathize: Understand the challenge Define: Define the problem Ideate: Brainstorm potential solutions Prototype: Build your solutions Test: Test your solutions Design thinking represents the cognitive, strategic, and practical processes used to come up with design concepts for development. It involves problem-solving based on prioritizing customer needs, and leverages an iterative approach that spans five phases: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.

Design thinking is a problem-solving approach that involves empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing. It's widely used in UX design to create innovative solutions that meet user needs.

A research method that involves exposing participants to a product and then asking them to select a few words that describe their reaction to that product out of a list of possible options. This type of method can be done qualitatively or quantitatively, to assess the aesthetic properties of an image and whether they are consistent with a desired brand image.

In UX design, "device" refers to the hardware used to access a digital product, such as smartphones, tablets, desktops, or wearables. Designing for different devices often requires considering varying screen sizes, input methods, and usage contexts.

A research method used to collect self-reported data about user behaviors, activities, and experiences over an extended period that can range from a few days to months. During that period, study participants are asked to keep a diary and log specific information about the activities of interest. A qualitative research method asking users to record their experiences and thoughts about a product or task in a journal over a set period of time.

What Is a Digital Product Manager? A product manager is responsible for driving the development of products to market success. A digital product manager specifically focuses on digital products like software, apps, or websites.

Digital transformation refers to the trend where businesses use digital technologies to enhance and replace existing business processes.

Digital personalization refers to the process of adapting and customizing digital content and interactions to meet the needs of users.

Founders of a startup who are gradually losing their equity stake in their own company due to outside investment. Founders should be careful to retain enough equity in their company as they go through funding stages. It is usually considered that the founders should collectively own at least 50% of the company right after Series A.

When a company issues new shares that result in a decrease in existing shareholders' ownership percentage of that company. When the number of shares outstanding increases, such as during a funding round, each existing shareholder owns a smaller, or diluted, percentage of the company, making each share less valuable. Dilution occurs when a startup issues new shares that result in a decrease in existing shareholders' ownership percentage of that company. When the number of shares outstanding increases, such as during a funding round, each existing shareholder owns a smaller, or diluted, percentage of the company, making each share less valuable.

A form of advertising featuring physical items for customers in order to communicate information about a product and create a lasting impression.

Dirty testing is a quick, informal usability method for rapid feedback on prototypes in real-world contexts.

What is Disciplined Agile? Disciplined Agile (DA), is a process decision framework that puts individuals first and offers only lightweight guidance to help teams streamline their processes according to their unique needs.

A series of documents prepared by prospective investors and acquirers. These documents include compliance requirements and the details of a given investment or acquisition.

The discounted rate on the shares an investor will receive when the note matures.

How people will learn about a product.

Characterized by its ability to take on only specific, countable values.

The process in which an underrated product or service becomes popular enough to replace or displace the conventional product or service.

Disruptive innovation is a term coined by Clayton M. Christensen to describe any type of innovation that creates a new industry, market, or business model, often by making products more affordable or accessible to a larger population.

A new technology that displaces an established technology to the point that a new industry is created.

Distinctive competence refers to a superior characteristic, strength, or quality that distinguishes a company from its competitors. This distinctive quality can be just about anything that gives the company a competitive advantage in its market.

Explore how to document a product roadmap to help align your product team to meet their OKRs and develop a clear go-to-market plan.

The process by which a company makes its employees use the software and hardware that the company makes. This is done so that improvements can be made and bugs discovered before the product is released to the market. A company showing confidence in their own product by using it themselves. Derived from the expression "eating your own dog food."

A domain expert is an individual with extensive knowledge or skills in a specific area or industry.

A unique name identifying a website.

A form of accounting where each entry requires a corresponding entry in a different account. This is done in order to ensure that no errors occur and no expenditure or revenue goes missing.

A funding round in which the startup sells shares of its capital stock at a price per share that is less than the price per share it sold for at an earlier round.

A drag handle is a UI element allowing users to move or adjust objects within software, often seen in design tools and spreadsheets.

A provision in an agreement that allows a majority shareholder to force a minority shareholder to join in the sale or merger of the company.

An extremely rare startup that raises $1 billion in a single round of funding. It is yet another variation of the Unicorn startup concept.

Marketing method designed to attract customers through repetitive marketing actions and advertisements.

Dual-track agile is where the cross-functional product team breaks its daily development work into two tracks: discovery and delivery.

The process undertaken by a VC that appraises the startup's current state of affairs (its assets, liabilities, and management) and its commercial potential. An analysis made by an investor based on the facts and information about a company or product prior to investment.

The Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) is an agile framework that addresses the entire project lifecycle and its impact on the business. Like the other agile methodologies, it promotes collaboration and flexibility in development.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. This is a popular and widely used method for measuring the financial health of a company and their ability to generate cash.

Individual or business who discovers and uses a product before others. Customers who use the startup's product or service before the general public does. These users can offer the startup honest and direct feedback, which can be used to improve the product before expanding to a larger audience. The concept was coined by Rogers in his Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory.

First sizeable segment or customer group to adopt a new product.

The earliest stage of the three main startup phases. These are fledgling companies that are often pre-valuation.

Refers to the speed at which a startup can grow and scale in a new market or as a first-mover. The result is that they may be able to take a large chunk of the market before their competitors can move, hence eating their lunch.

Entrepreneur who focuses on environmentally friendly products.

An environment formed by business-oriented people and startups in various stages and organizations for the creation and scaling of new startup companies. Ecosystems usually include everything from universities to government entities.

An edge case is a rare occurrence in the product or service. Edge cases deal with the extreme maximums and minimums of parameters. Sometimes edge cases threaten to break a system and lead to poor user experience. For example, if an application allows for "unlimited" photo uploads knowing that users rarely upload more than 1000, how does the system deal with the edge case of the user who uploads millions of photos? Are there boundaries at this maximum end? That is an edge case, an unlikely-yet-potentially disastrous situation.

What is the Eisenhower Matrix? The Eisenhower Matrix is a productivity, prioritization, and time-management framework designed to help you prioritize a list of tasks or potential activities.

When a small change in price leads to a large change in demand.

A brief speech that outlines an idea for a project, service, or product. A brief statement providing an overview of your business. Can you convey your startup's value proposition in the time it takes the lift/elevator to reach the next floor?

An email address linked with a different destination email address.

An agreement to provide a particular press agency with a story but delay publication of that story.

Empathy maps are collaborative tools that help us visualize user behavior, attitudes, and feelings. This is split into 4 equal quadrants containing information about what the user is saying, thinking, doing, and feeling. At the center, is our user persona. Each quadrant is filled with information gathered from user research.

Empathy maps are visual tools used to articulate what we know about a particular type of user. They help UX teams align on a deep understanding of end users, including their feelings, behaviors, pain points, and goals.

Legal document detailing the specific requirements and benefits of employment.

The person we are designing the product for. Who are we designing the product for? This person is our end user.

What Is the End-User Era? The end-user era refers to a new trend in how businesses buy software. The decisions about which enterprise applications to use are increasingly being made by the end-users themselves, rather than by IT departments or executives.

A typical success metric defined by an organisation. For example, time spent on a web page, number of interactions on a piece of content (likes, shares, comments), etc.

The engineering backlog lists and prioritizes the stories, epics, and/or initiatives that are to be worked on by the engineering team for a given period.

What is Enterprise Architecture? Enterprise architecture is a strategic and comprehensive blueprint for how IT infrastructure will be used across an organization to help meet business goals.

What is an Enterprise Architecture Roadmap? An enterprise architecture roadmap is a strategic blueprint that communicates how a company's IT plans will help the organization meet its business goals over time.

What is enterprise feedback management? Enterprise feedback management (EFM) describes the processes and software used to collect and manage customer feedback at an enterprise-level scale.

The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is a UK government scheme that helps younger, higher-risk businesses raise finance by offering generous tax reliefs to investors. Read more here.

An enterprise organization refers to a large-scale business entity typically operating across multiple locations, regions, or even countries.

What Is Enterprise Transformation? Enterprise transformation refers to a fundamental change in the way a business operates. Consequently, this could include a change to the organization's people, processes, technology, or business model.

An experienced entrepreneur who is employed by a venture capital firm and plays an advisory role. Entrepreneur in residence. It is a position in a company (usually a VC firm) that is a short-term role where an experienced entrepreneur is brought in to develop a new business. The firm is often willing to financially support the EIR's business idea.

An epic, like a theme, is typically a group of features or stories with a common strategic goal. Note that an epic is one level higher than a user story in terms of scope. In Agile product development, an "epic" is a large amount of work that can be broken down into smaller pieces called "stories." Epics help product teams organize tasks and prioritize activities throughout product development. Epics can span across sprints, teams, and projects.

The value of shares issued by a startup (or other company). e.g. she owns 63% of the startup's equity. Ownership in a company expressed as a percentage in shares of stock.

Equity capital is the capital/finance that a business raises from investors in exchange for equity or stock (in this context, equity capital can be an alternative to debt capital).

Equity crowdfunding refers to generating capital by asking a large number of people for a small investment in exchange for a small amount of equity, usually via a third party platform.

Equity rewards, often in the form of stock, given to key employees. Oftentimes, there is a waiting period before employees can legally claim this equity.

Ergonomics is the study or science of understanding the interactions between humans and systems, products, or equipment. The goal is to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.

Ethics in UX design involves considering the moral implications of design decisions. This includes issues like data privacy, accessibility, inclusivity, and the potential societal impacts of the products we create.

A qualitative research method used to capture information about behaviour in the context of people's real-world environments. Through observations, It can be used to obtain unarticulated needs, motivations, and drivers to develop innovative designs.

A person who believes so much in a product or service that they freely try to convince others to use it.

An interaction with a digital property, such as a click, page view, or transaction.

When a founder ends their involvement in the business, usually via a liquidity event (selling their shares to investors or to another company). The main two types of exits are an acquisition and an IPO.

An exit strategy is a Founder's plan to sell their ownership in a company to investors/another company. An exit strategy gives a business owner a way to reduce or liquidate their stake in a business (generally for a profit). The strategic plan by the founders to sell their company to investors or to another company. Facilitator A facilitator, in the context of UX, is a practitioner who leads workshops, meetings, focus groups, or one-to-one sessions. The objective is to lead the group to achieve a common goal and/or be the main driver of the session.

Experience design is the approach for designing systems, products, processes, services, interfaces, and more with emphasis on the experience the user will have at the forefront of the design process.

Experience sampling is a method for collecting real-time data on individuals' behaviors and thoughts in their everyday life.

An expert review, also known as a heuristic evaluation or usability inspection, is a method used to evaluate the usability and user experience of a product or system.

Extended Reality Design encompasses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) design. It involves creating immersive experiences that blend digital and physical environments in various ways.

Refers to the extent to which a study's design and participants realistically mirror actual conditions.

What is eXtreme Programming? eXtreme Programming (XP) is an agile framework that emphasizes both the broader philosophy of agile---to produce higher-quality software to please customers---and specific engineering practices to achieve that goal.

Eye tracking is a research method that measures where a person is looking, for how long, and in what pattern. In UX research, it's used to understand how users visually interact with interfaces and what elements draw their attention.

Eye tracking measures the users eye activity whilst they are engaged in a particular task. Where a person looks, what they ignore, and when they blink. Eye tracking provides quantitative measures of attention. These can be correlated with task completion time, error rate, success rate, backtracking rate, and other indicators of an interface's efficiency and used together as results from usability testing or as a standalone tool to tackle specific issues.

A behavioral research method that involves tracking users' eye movements as they interact with a product or perform a specific activity, to determine where they focus their attention. Eyetracking studies require special equipment to capture participants' eye movements. Eyetracking data can be used to understand which design elements attract users' attention and which are ignored.

The false consensus effect makes individuals overestimate their preferences' popularity, influencing UX decisions and evaluations.

A private fund investing on behalf of a single high-net-worth individual, family (Single Family Office), or group of families (Multi Family Office). Family offices may invest in startups or in VC funds, although that's just a small part of their activities.

A product feature is a piece of functionality a product offers that delivers a benefit or value to the customer.

A feature audit is an exercise to give a product team a visual snapshot of how many customers use each feature in the product, helping to identify which features are most valuable and which might be candidates for removal or improvement.

What is Feature Bloat? Feature bloat is a term to describe the result of packing too many features and functionalities into a product. Usually, this leads to a complex and confusing user experience.

What is feature creep? Feature creep refers to the continuous addition of new features to a product, often leading to unnecessary complexity and potentially compromising the core functionality and user experience.

What is Feature Driven Development? (FDD) Feature Driven Development (FDD) is an agile framework that, as its name suggests, organizes software development around making progress on features.

What is a Feature Factory? In product management lingo, feature factory is typically a derogatory term. It describes a business focused on building features without sufficient consideration for their strategic value or impact on user experience.

A feature flag refers to a team's ability to turn a feature or functionality "on" or "off" at their discretion. Feature flags help a team control the rollout of new features and manage potential risks.

A product feature kickoff is a meeting in which a product manager and stakeholders set plans, goals, and responsibilities for a new feature.

What Is a Feature Outcome Assessment? A feature outcome assessment focuses on specific, measurable outcomes rather than product features. It helps teams evaluate the impact and success of new features based on predefined goals and metrics.

What is a feature release? Whereas a product release is focused on the introduction of an entirely new offering to the market, the term feature release typically refers to the launch of new functionality within an existing product.

How can your team be more outcome focused? Transition to a feature-less roadmap to ship initiatives that provide real user value.

What is feedback management? Feedback management collects user feedback to identify opportunities to improve a product or service. Product teams who regularly listen to and act on user feedback can create better, more user-centered products.

Fibonacci agile estimation refers to using this sequence as the scoring scale when estimating the effort of agile development tasks. The Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc.) is used because it reflects the inherent uncertainty in estimating larger items.

Fidelity is used to describe how closely the wireframes or prototypes match the look and feel of the final interface. Low-fidelity wireframes can be as basic as pen-and-paper sketches of the layout, while high-fidelity prototypes have the stylistic treatment and at least some interactive properties of the final product.

A research method that involves observing the users in their natural context. Field studies are a type of context method. Field studies vary in the amount of interaction between the researcher and the participant. Some field studies are purely observational, while others involve active participation from the researcher in the form of interviews or tasks given to the user.

Figma is a cloud-based design tool that enables collaborative interface design. It's widely used for creating wireframes, prototypes, and design systems, with features that support real-time collaboration.

Filters are UI elements that allow users to narrow down a large set of content or data based on specific criteria. They help users find relevant information more quickly and efficiently.

What is a finance product manager? Like a product manager in any other industry, a finance product manager is responsible for the success of a product within the financial sector. They need to have domain expertise in finance as well as general product management skills.

A behavioral, task-based research method in which participants are given a specific task before they are exposed to a design and then stopped immediately after their first click on the corresponding screen. This test works best when users have a specific goal in mind the first time they encounter the site.

The ability of the startup to have a competitive advantage by being the first to market in a new product category.

Fitt's Law is a model that helps designers place and position the size and location of user interface elements for their optimal utility. Fitt's Law states "the time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target".

An attitudinal research method in which a study participant is shown a design for five seconds and then asked to describe what they saw. A five-second test is meant to gather users' first reactions to the aesthetic qualities of a design.

Flat design is a minimalist user interface design style. It is characterized by simple, two-dimensional elements and vibrant colors. Once you've seen an example of it, you'll see it everywhere. A design style or language which favours simple, 2D elements and bright colours. While skeuomorphic design is all about creating a 3D, life-like feel, flat design keeps things plain and simple. Flat design originally came about to aid responsive design.

A round of funding where the startup valuation is the same as the previous round of funding. This is usually not a good signal for the startup.

A Floating Action Button is a circular button that floats above the UI, typically in the bottom right corner. It's used to promote a primary action and is common in material design for Android apps.

A flow chart or flow diagram is a visual representation of a series of steps in a process that explains how the process works. Often used to illustrate the steps a user can take to complete a task on a product.

A focus group is a session held with a group of representative users or consumers facilitated by a researcher who guides the discussion about a specific product, service, system, brand, or interface.

"Focus plus context" in UI offers a detailed view alongside broader information, aiding users with complex systems or datasets.

The line that separates that upper area of an interface is immediately visible when a user loads the site (above the fold). It often contains a call-to-action and is used to communicate the purpose of the site and encourage further exploration.

The process of VC firms investing in the later rounds of companies in their portfolios that they have already invested in in order to avoid dilution.

An interactive UI element that gathers information from a user. It commonly consists of textboxes, dropdown lists, checkboxes, radio buttons and other interactive elements.

Any method that focuses on determining which aspects of the design work well or not, and why. Formative evaluations occur throughout a design or redesign and provide information to incrementally improve the interface.

Formative research guides early design stages by understanding user needs using methods like user interviews.

Forms are UI elements used to collect information from users. Designing effective forms involves considering factors like layout, input validation, error handling, and accessibility to ensure a smooth user experience.

Stock issued to the originators of the company that provide a method to manage control and ownership of the company.

A business model where customers are offered a restricted version of a product or service at no cost. Additional features are available at a cost.

When a startup raises their first outside capital from their own network. This has more flexible terms and is less formal than later funding rounds.

The people who fund early-stage startups, often at the pre-seed stage. Also known as the "3F".

A provision intended to protect investors, preventing extreme dilution of equity/shares.

A full-stack designer is a designer who has the skills and know-how to take on all the "stacks" (or layers) of the product design and development process. While most designers will specialise in just one area, such as UX design or UI design, full-stack designers can take on UX design, UI design, interaction design and frontend development.

The individual to whom another employee reports within a company.

Particular behavior or metric to judge the operation of a system.

A mutual fund that invests into other mutual funds.

A fundamentally new product gives customers the ability to do something that no existing product can.

The primary method of financing that startups undertake to raise external capital.

The possible value of an asset in the future.

GIST planning is to only build products and solutions with the objectives of the organization in mind. So how can you use GIST planning?

Gamification is the process of integrating game-design mechanics and principles in non-game contexts such as websites and mobile applications in an effort to drive increase user adoption, engagement, and retention. The use of game metaphors, and elements in non-game environments to create similar experiences to those experienced when playing games.

Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. In UX design, it's used to increase user engagement, motivation, and loyalty by making experiences more fun and rewarding.

A Gantt chart, or harmonogram, is a bar chart that graphically illustrates a schedule for planning, coordinating, and tracking specific tasks related to a project. It shows the start and finish dates of different elements of a project.

What is General Availability? General Availability (GA) is the release of a product to the general public. When a product reaches GA, it becomes available for purchase and use by all customers.

A comprehensive and complete record of all financial transactions spanning the lifetime of a company.

A manager at a VC fund. They sit at the top of the VC job pyramid.

An established set of rules created by the accounting industry which must be followed when reporting financial information.

The stage of creating ideas.

Gestalt Principles talk about human perception and how humans group similar elements, and simplify complex images while perceiving them. A set of visual principles that describe how the human mind perceives the relationship between elements based on their similarity, proximity, continuation, closure and connectedness.

Gestures are movements made by a user to interact with a touch interface. Common gestures include tapping, swiping, pinching, and long-pressing. Designing for gestures involves creating intuitive and discoverable interactions.

GitHub is a collaborative development platform used by developers.

What is a Go-to-Market Strategy? A go-to-market strategy is a tactical plan detailing how a company plans to execute a successful product release and reach target customers. A company's plan to deliver a product to market in a way that's intended to achieve competitive advantage. It includes numerous tactics and activities, including defining pricing, branding, messaging, marketing campaigns, sales outreach, channel distribution, and more.

Goal-Question-Metrics (GQMs) is a strategic framework used to define goals, ask relevant questions, and improve metrics. GQMs empower product managers to clarify purpose, align teams, and measure progress effectively.

Benefits or delayed payments offered by a company in order to prevent an employee's departure.

A large compensation or lump payment for the dismissal of an executive, often occurring in the aftermath of a takeover.

The practice of designing and building digital interfaces that will maintain at least their basic functionality even when most of it is not available. For instance, if the desired font can't be displayed, the system will offer an alternative, meaning the user experience may be disrupted but not ruined.

An award (often financial) that is given by one entity to another in order to help them facilitate a goal. For example, governments and large corporations usually run grant programs to support startups and innovative companies.

A market area with no restraints or previous solution attempts.

A greenfield project can describe any project that a team starts from scratch. Learn the pros and common pitfalls of a greenfield project.

A grid system works as a framework that helps product teams to arrange UI elements in a way that allows maintaining good visual balance from page to page. Text, images, and functions are aligned on the column-based structure. It allows designers and developers to create more consistent and appealing UI. Part of the design system, grids are layout constraints that determine the position of UI elements on a page. They can scale following responsive or adaptive layout principles.

A grid system is a structure of horizontal and vertical lines used to organize content in a layout. It helps create consistent, aligned designs and can aid in responsive design for different screen sizes.

A percentage metric for how much revenue a company keeps after subtracting the cost of all production-related expenses. Higher percentages are generally better.

A measure of the profitability of a revenue stream. This statistic is essentially all revenue generated by a product subtracted by the cost of production, support, and delivery.

Earliest possible startup phase.

What Is a Group Product Manager? A group product manager (GPM) is a product leader who manages the product team responsible for a particular product line or feature set.

Consensus of opinion without critical reasoning. This is to be avoided at all costs, as it damages creativity and idea generation.

An employee who creates viral results quickly.

Coined by Sean Ellis, this term refers to the art of generating fast attention and customer base growth via unconventional means. The use of unorthodox, aggressive, cost-effective digital marketing tactics to grow and retain a user base, gain exposure, and sell products.

Learn what growth product managers do, how they are centric to product-led growth and what success looks like for a growth product manager.

Guerilla testing, also known as guerrilla testing or quick user testing, is an informal and rapid method of gathering user feedback on a product or design.

Guerilla usability testing is a quick and inexpensive way of testing a prototype or website with real users. Instead of recruiting a specific targeted audience to take part in sessions, participants are approached in public places and asked to take part in the research. These sessions normally last for only 10-15 minutes with little or no incentive.

The HEART framework is a methodology to improve the user experience (UX) of software. The framework helps a company evaluate any aspect of its product using five user-centered metrics: Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, and Task success.

Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML, is the standard programming language used to create websites and web applications. Unlike CSS, it is concerned with the structure of a website, similar to a blueprint of a building.

An event - usually 1 to 2 days - that brings computer programmers and other interested people together to collaborate on the improvement of software or by building a new software program.

Talented programmers who get the job done despite the obstacles.

A hamburger menu is a button in websites and apps that typically opens up a side menu or navigation drawer. It's represented by an icon of three horizontal lines, resembling a hamburger.

Haptic feedback boosts digital interaction with touch. It's crucial for immersion, accessibility, and conveying user information.

A pitch style designed to get a consumer to purchase a product in the short-term, without allowing the consumer time to wait and analyze alternatives.

The physical parts parts of a product or computer are called hardware. Think circuits, chips, plugs, and wires.

A tag or phrase preceded by a hashmark (#) in order to establish a keyword or topic of discussion.

Headers are UI elements typically found at the top of a webpage or app screen. They often contain navigation elements, search functionality, and branding, providing consistent access to key features across different pages.

A heat map is a graphical representation of the areas on your product that receive the most user attention. It uses a warm-to-cool color spectrum to show you where exactly your users are going. Red areas of the heat map indicate popular sections of the website, while blue areas are those which received less attention.

A startup with a valuation of over $100 billion.

The phenomenon of individuals following a leader rather than thinking independently.

Heuristic evaluation is the documentation of a website or app's usability flaws and other areas for improvement against the 10 best practice guidelines published by Jakob Nielsen to help guide usability assessments. Heuristic review is a UX method assessing designs against usability rules. It's cost-effective, improves navigation, and reduces user errors.

According to Hick's law, the more options or choices a user has, the longer it will take them to make a decision or choose a course of action. In UX, the goal is to keep the number of options available to the user to a minimum, making it quicker and easier for them to navigate through the experience without feeling overwhelmed. Hick's law, sometimes referred to as Hick-Hyman law, is a model for measuring human reaction time based on the number of choices presented to them. Hick's Law states "the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices".

A prototype that is polished and similar to a final design, with lots of detail and a good indication of the final proposed aesthetics and functionality. It is sufficiently well formed to allow for rigorous testing with users.

The informal term for a upward growth trend. A term use to represent a growth chart/graph showing sudden and exponential growth.

An entity created for the sole purpose of holding assets with few other functions.

What is the Hook Model? The Hook Model is a four-phase process that businesses can use to create products or services used habitually by customers. The four phases are Trigger, Action, Variable Reward, and Investment.

The amount of users of a service or product in a 60 minute period.

If you're in the process of solving a UX problem and trying to come up with ideas, you might frame the problem as a "How might we?" question. For example, if your problem statement is something like "Users struggle to fill out the application form and often fill it out wrong", you could turn this into the following HMW: "How might we improve the application form to make it easier for users to fill it out correctly?" How Might We questions are a great way to progress from problem to solution while keeping the user at the forefront.

Understanding human behavior is crucial in UX design. It involves studying how people interact with technology, make decisions, and respond to different design elements, often drawing on principles from psychology and cognitive science.

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is a multidisciplinary field of study focusing on the design of computer technology and, in particular, the interaction between humans (the users) and computers. While initially concerned with computers, HCI has since expanded to cover almost all forms of information technology design.

Hybrid mobile apps combine both native and web technologies. They'll often use a combination of technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and will live inside a native container that lets it access device capabilities.

Supplementing customers gained by viral campaigns with customer acquisition through other means, like paid search or SEO.

An I-beam pointer is a cursor shaped like the letter "I", typically seen over editable text areas, signaling that text can be inserted, edited, or selected.

The ICE Scoring Model is a relatively quick way to assign a numerical value to different potential projects or ideas to prioritize them based on Impact, Confidence, and Ease.

An IP address, or Internet Protocol Address, is a unique number made up of numbers and periods used to identify each device utilizing the Internet Protocol to communicate.

ISO 9126 is a standard for software quality, defining functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability, and portability.

What is IT Management? Information Technology (IT) management is the monitoring and administration of an organization's information technology systems and resources. The department manages hardware, software, networks, and data to ensure efficient and effective use of IT resources.

What Is an IT Project Manager? An IT project manager oversees complex projects involving a company's IT infrastructure. Examples include installing computer hardware, setting up networks, or implementing new software systems.

Icons are small graphical representations of objects, actions, or ideas. In UX design, icons are used to communicate concepts quickly and save space, but they need to be easily recognizable and understood by users.

An idea backlog is a list of ideas that need more discussion or vetting before a product team can decide whether to move forward with them.

Idea management is a structured approach to generating and evaluating ideas that could help improve an organization's bottom line.

Ideation refers to a process or method for forming ideas or concepts. What is ideation? Ideation is an intentional exercise to generate a high volume of ideas for a business's products, services, and customer experience. Unlike brainstorming, ideation is typically more structured and focused on specific business goals.

Impact Mapping is a graphic strategy planning method to decide which features to build into a product. As it begins with the intended goal or impact, it helps teams focus on outcomes rather than outputs.

Implicit requirements are features and characteristics of the product experience that customers will expect. This post discusses examples of implicit requirements and how they differ from explicit requirements.

Metric to determine the amount of newly generated users as a result of a particular advertisement.

What is in-app messaging? In-app messaging refers to messages or notifications that are displayed to users while they are actively using an application. These messages can be used for onboarding, feature announcements, or personalized communication.

Sales coming from current users via an application.

Incentives enhance research participation and feedback, using gift cards, early research access, and certificates.

Sales, expenses, and net profit over a particular period of time

The act of legally forming a company.

A company or facility designed to aid entrepreneurs via shared resources, education, expertise, and intellectual capital. Similar to an accelerator but focussed primarily on innovation, "incubating" an idea into a viable business model. As with an accelerator programme, also offers mentorship and capital in exchange for equity.

The factor that researchers actively change or control in a study to investigate its effects on the dependent variables.

A potential customer displaying interest in a product.

Identifies the individuals or organizations who have influence over potential buyers and attempts to market towards those influencers.

Information architecture (IA) is the practice organizing and arranging information to make it understandable. This includes defining hierarchies, parent-child relationships and in general making sense out of an (informational) mess. In UX design, information architecture considers how the information and content is organised within and across a product. If you're designing a website, you'll consider the positioning of each piece of content the user encounters, thinking about where it sits on the page and where it's located in terms of the overall structure of the website. Good information architecture is crucial to good UX.

Information Architecture is the practice of organizing, structuring, and labeling content in an effective and sustainable way. It helps users find information and complete tasks, forming the backbone of intuitive user experiences.

Information design is the practice of presenting information in a way that fosters efficient and effective understanding.

Information flows in product management is a two-step process for creating a shared understanding of product strategy.

What is information technology? Information technology (IT) is the hardware and software used to create, store, transmit, manipulate, and display information and data. Metaphorically, IT is the nervous system of modern organizations.

A corporation's first sale of securities, often in stock form, under the regulations of a public company.

Innovation is the process of developing or introducing something new. Successful introduction of a new change that adds value.

What is innovation management? There are many definitions of innovation management. At its core, innovation management is the process of putting something new into practice, whether it's a product, service, or business model.

An individual who introduces valuable changes.

Problem-solving method that focuses on defining the relationship between two variable and determining causality.

The legal ownership of ideas or concepts. These are intangible assets, which have the potential to be far more important than any tangible assets.

Interaction Design, or IxD, is the practice of designing interactive digital products and considering the way in which users will interact with them. A discipline that focuses specifically on how users interact with products (both digital and analog). This could be buttons on a page, swipes on an app, or how to use a can opener that only has one handle.

Interaction Design (IxD) is a discipline within User Experience Design that involves designing the interactive behaviors of products and services.

Interaction Design focuses on creating engaging interfaces with well thought out behaviors. It's about designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services that respond to user actions in meaningful ways.

Refers to the degree to which a study's design effectively minimizes biases and ensures consistency across conditions and participant responses.

Someone who practices entrepreneurship within a large company.

Intuitive design refers to making products easy to use. In this post, we'll discuss why intuitive design is important and how to do it. "Intuitive" is a word that you'll hear time and time again in the UX world. Intuitive design is what UX professionals strive for; it's design that the user can instantly understand and use without needing any kind of tutorial or instruction.

The creation of new forms. An idea that has become a reality.

A legal document which is often introduced by venture capital firms or prospective investors while a company is seeking investment. These agreements are often designed to protect the interests of investors.

IoT (internet of things) product managers are product professionals who are responsible for products that connect to the internet. The role is in a rapidly growing field as more devices become connected.

Iterative design is the practice of continuously improving, refining and updating your product. An iteration of a design is essentially a new, updated version and designing iteratively enables you to keep improving the user experience on a regular and ongoing basis (rather than launching one version and never updating it again, regardless of how it's received by users). What is an iteration? An iteration is a set amount of time (typically 1-2 weeks) reserved for development in agile software development.

Iterative design involves refining designs in cycles of testing and feedback, reducing risks, and improving usability and efficiency.

Learn the definition and best practices of iterative testing. Discover the 6 reasons product managers need to conduct iterative testing.

A UX principle that maintains that "users spend most of their time on other sites and therefore prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know". This doesn't discourage innovation, but emphasises the importance of prioritising the established UX principles to reduce cognitive load for the user.

A call to action (CTA) is a message that invites a reader, user, or consumer to take an action such as download, buy, read. JavaScript is a programming language that is primarily used to add interactivity and dynamic behavior to web pages. It's one of the core technologies of web development, alongside HTML and CSS.

What Is Jira? Jira is a software application developed by the Australian software company Atlassian that allows teams to track issues, manage projects, and automate workflows.

Job stories (from jobs-to-be-done) help define user tasks in product design. Different from user stories, it attempts to avoid leading a design with persona-first phrasing. Format: When [name situation], I want to [list motivations and forces], so I can [expected outcome]. Example: When I go shopping for groceries, I want to find the cheapest available produce, so I can save money shopping.

The JTBD framework helps businesses address customers' needs to enhance product strategies. Jobs-to-be-done is a theory of consumer action. It describes the mechanisms that cause a consumer to adopt an innovation. The theory states that markets grow, evolve, and renew whenever customers have a Job to be Done, and then buy a product to complete it (get the Job Done). The jobs-to-be-done framework is an approach to developing products based on understanding both the customer's specific goal, or "job," and the thought processes that would lead that customer to use that product.

An arrangement, partnership or investment among a group of individuals or entities spanning a limited time period with the purpose of achieving a specific objective.

The point in time when a brand's evolution begins to decline.

A UX principle that maintains that "users spend most of their time on other sites and therefore prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know". This doesn't discourage innovation, but emphasises the importance of prioritising the established UX principles to reduce cognitive load for the user.

A call to action (CTA) is a message that invites a reader, user, or consumer to take an action such as download, buy, read. JavaScript is a programming language that is primarily used to add interactivity and dynamic behavior to web pages. It's one of the core technologies of web development, alongside HTML and CSS.

What Is Jira? Jira is a software application developed by the Australian software company Atlassian that allows teams to track issues, manage projects, and automate workflows.

Job stories (from jobs-to-be-done) help define user tasks in product design. Different from user stories, it attempts to avoid leading a design with persona-first phrasing. Format: When [name situation], I want to [list motivations and forces], so I can [expected outcome]. Example: When I go shopping for groceries, I want to find the cheapest available produce, so I can save money shopping.

The JTBD framework helps businesses address customers' needs to enhance product strategies. Jobs-to-be-done is a theory of consumer action. It describes the mechanisms that cause a consumer to adopt an innovation. The theory states that markets grow, evolve, and renew whenever customers have a Job to be Done, and then buy a product to complete it (get the Job Done). The jobs-to-be-done framework is an approach to developing products based on understanding both the customer's specific goal, or "job," and the thought processes that would lead that customer to use that product.

An arrangement, partnership or investment among a group of individuals or entities spanning a limited time period with the purpose of achieving a specific objective.

The point in time when a brand's evolution begins to decline.

KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are measurable values that help us understand and track how well a product is doing. As a UX designer, you'll often work with KPIs like task success rate, user error rate, and time on task.

A kanban board is a type of workflow that is commonly used to manage initiatives in project management. Kanban boards can be found in many project management tools and typically consist of columns representing different stages of work (e.g., To Do, In Progress, Done).

What is a Kanban Roadmap? Learn how a Kanban roadmap can help product managers leverage the Kanban methodology in their strategic planning.

The Kano Model is one of many prioritization frameworks designed to help product teams prioritize initiatives. Kano can help teams determine which features will satisfy customers and which will lead to dissatisfaction if absent.

Kerning is the spacing between individual letters or characters. Unlike tracking, which adjusts the amount of space between the letters of an entire word in equal increments, kerning is focused on how type looks --- creating readable text that's visually pleasing.

A co-founder or early employee who is a key to a company's success. These employees are often rewarded with equity.

KPIs are quantifiable metrics organizations use to analyze and track progress toward business objectives. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are measurable values that help us understand and track how well a product is doing. As a UX designer, you'll often work with KPIs like task success rate, user error rate, and time on task.

KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are measurable values that help us understand and track how well a product is doing. As a UX designer, you'll often work with KPIs like task success rate, user error rate, and time on task.

A segment of a target market who are hesitant to adopt a new product.

Any page a user lands on is considered a landing page. However, landing pages are often tied to ads and search results and are designed to meet specific conversion goals. Not only are they the page a user lands on, but they are also a crucial part of marketing campaigns. It's common for landing pages that are part of a marketing campaign to be designed slightly differently than normal websites. Often, you'll find that they do not feature a navigation and tend to push a single action, like a download, purchase, or registration.

The last major customer segment to adopt a product.

A startup company that has been in existence for a noteworthy period of time and has proven to have a viable product and business model.

Law of Common Region states "Elements tend to be perceived into groups if they are sharing an area with a clearly defined boundary." Adding a border around an element or group of elements is an easy way to create common region. Common region can be created by defining a background behind an element or group of elements.

Law of Proximity states "Objects that are near, or proximate to each other, tend to be grouped together." Proximity helps to establish a relationship with nearby objects. Proximity helps users understand and organize information faster and more efficiently.

Law of Prägnanz states "People will perceive and interpret ambiguous or complex images as the simplest form possible because it is the interpretation that requires the least cognitive effort of us." The human eye likes to find simplicity and order in complex shapes because it prevents us from becoming overwhelmed with information. Research confirms that people are better able to visually process and remember simple figures than complex figures.

Law of Similarity states "The human eye tends to perceive similar elements in a design as a complete picture, shape, or group, even if those elements are separated." Elements that are visually similar will be perceived as related. Color, shape, and size, orientation and movement can signal that elements belong to the same group and likely share a common meaning or functionality. Ensure that links and navigation systems are visually differentiated from normal text elements.

Law of Uniform Connectedness states "Elements that are visually connected are perceived as more related than elements with no connection." Group functions of a similar nature so they are visually connected via colors, lines, frames, or other shapes. Alternately, you can use a tangible connecting reference (line, arrow, etc) from one element to the next to also create a visual connection. Use uniform connectedness to show context or to emphasize the relationship between similar items.

Layout and composition in UX design refer to the arrangement of visual elements on a screen. Good layout enhances readability, guides the user's attention, and contributes to the overall aesthetic appeal and usability of an interface.

Large scale Scrum (LeSS) is a scaled-up version of the traditional, one-team Scrum. LeSS uses many principles of the Scrum agile framework but with adaptations to work for larger teams and projects.

The process of attracting potential customers and capturing interest in a given product with the intention of developing the sales pipeline.

Landing page that is used to capture user information and enter potential customers in the pipeline.

Member of an investment syndicate who holds the largest stake in a given company. Oftentimes, the lead investor is a startup's principal provider of capital.

A prospective customer who has provided their contact information to a company.

An analogy used to explain how products lose customers.

Adapted by Ash Maurya from Alex Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas is a one-page business plan that helps to deconstruct a business idea into key assumptions, to help teams validate their ideas. Lean Canvas is intended for use by startup companies.

Lean product development is a methodology that focuses on a lean approach to developing products, with the goal of reducing waste, accelerating market delivery, and increasing customer value.

What is Lean Software Development (LSD)? Lean Software Development (LSD) is an agile framework based on optimizing development time and resources, eliminating waste, and ultimately delivering only what the customer wants and values.

Lean UX, based on Agile, is a collaborative user-centric approach that prioritizes "learning loops" (building, learning, and measuring through iterations) over design documentation. Whereas traditional UX may include rounds of wireframes and design reviews, Lean UX would prioritize the development of an MVP to gather user feedback.

Learnability is 1 of the 5 quality components of usability (the others being efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction). Learnability considers how easy it is for users to accomplish a task the first time they encounter the interface and how many repetitions it takes for them to become efficient at that task. Testing learnability is especially valuable for complex applications and systems that users access frequently, though knowing how quickly users can acclimate to your interface is valuable for even objectively simple systems.

A business document outlining the terms of a deal, often between two separate companies.

When a person or group of people take on debt in order to buy out the remaining shares of a company and achieve ownership.

The debts and financial obligations of a company.

The state of being legally responsible for something. (see How to Win Friends and Influence Bankers)

A business agreement wherein one company grants another company permission to manufacture its product for an agreed payment.

The process a product goes through from inception to retirement, typically including inception, design and prototyping, testing, implementation or production, and ongoing maintenance.

Company that runs itself and makes a profit, but will never grow into something gigantic.

Lifetime Value (LTV) is an estimate of how much revenue an account will bring in over its lifetime. LTV, when used alongside an efficiency metric like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), can help determine the long-term value of acquiring a customer. The total amount a single customer is worth to a startup during the lifetime of the relationship. e.g. For a £1 per month subscription, if an average customer subscribes for 18 months, the LTV is £18. Important when calculating unit economics.

Net profit a single customer will provide to the business.

A Likert scale is a scale commonly used in surveys and market research questionnaires. A typical Likert scale contains 5 possible answers to a question. A Likert scale assumes that the strength/intensity of an attitude is linear, i.e. on a continuum from strongly agree to strongly disagree, and makes the assumption that attitudes can be measured. For example, each of the 5 responses would have a numerical value which would be used to measure the attitude under investigation.

A company structure preventing individual members of the company from being held personally responsible for the company's debts or liabilities.

A partnership structure allowing partners to carry limited liability in order to mitigate risks.

An investor with little control over the management of a partnership or a portfolio company, in exchange for less restrictions on liquidation.

The process of turning securities into cash, often as part of an exit strategy.

The right to receive a specific monetary value in exchange for equity, especially in the event of a company dissolving.

An event that allows venture capital firms realize their gains or losses by liquidating equity in a company.

An interactive UI element that allows a user to select one or multiple options from a list of predefined values. Its functionality is similar to that of a dropdown, but a listbox offers a preview of the first 5--7 options and typically allows multi-value selection.

The load time is the amount of time taken to download and display the entire content of a web page or application.

Localisation, used in field of UX, means the degree to which design, language, terminology, features, and functionality are adapted for a specific market.

Localization is the process of adapting a product's content and design for a specific locale or market. This goes beyond mere translation, often involving changes to images, layout, and functionality to suit cultural preferences and norms.

A period of time where investors are not allowed to redeem or sell shares of a certain investment.

A graphic design logo associated with a company or product. This often contains a name, trademark, or representative symbol.

Debts payable over a period of time exceeding one year.

A long tail is a statistical term that refers to a probability distribution where a larger share of the population rests within the tail than normally would. A product strategy that allows companies to realize significant profits by selling low volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers, instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items.

Look and Feel is a term used in respect of a graphical user interface, including elements such as colours, shapes, layout, and typefaces (the "look"), as well as the behaviour of dynamic elements such as buttons, boxes, and menus (the "feel").

Selling a product at a loss in order to build a customer base.

Low-fidelity prototypes are simple and low-tech concepts. All you need to get started is a pen and paper. The goal is to turn your ideas into testable artifacts that you can then use to collect and analyze feedback in the early stages.

Task with a large positive potential with few drawbacks. In the context of startup ideation, this means an idea which is in a market area where competition is low.

Low fidelity (lo-fi) in design refers to a simplified, abstract representation using basic shapes and minimal detail.

A low-fidelity prototype is a basic and simplified representation of a product or design concept.

A product with a limited set of features that can attract early-adopter customers and validate a product idea. This occurs very early in the product development cycle, and the future product often looks completely different from the MVP.

Machine learning is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. Machine learning focuses on the development of computer programs that can access data and use it to learn for themselves. The process of learning begins with observations or data.

Any investor that holds 100,000 shares of preferred or common stock.

The MRD is a document that outlines customer requirements for a particular product or service. It may contain information about the product's vision, the competitive landscape, a business analysis and market opportunity, as well as a high-level overview of key features and capabilities.

What is Market Validation? Market validation is the process of presenting a concept for a product to its target market and learning from those potential customers whether it meets their needs and solves their problems.

The percentage of a total market that your startup will win as customers, within a given timefame.

Market research refers to the industry and profession that gathers and analyses information about how consumers use, interact with, perceive and consume goods and services.

Marketing automation is the process of using software to automate marketing activities. Most commonly used for email, automation put simply is using triggers to begin specific actions. For example, when a user signs up for a newsletter they receive at automated welcome email.

A marketing dashboard provides a single view on all of the most important marketing KPIs, allowing startups to make informed marketing decisions without the need for manual reporting.

A marketing plan provides a high-level view of the tactics and strategies used to deliver a product to market. It includes a strategic roadmap that the business can use to organize, execute, and track its GTM strategy over time.

Material Design, often called just Material, is a design system developed by Google and native to Android devices. Material Design is an Android-oriented design language developed by Google in 2014

Money which is spent directly on advertising (paid search, paid social, display advertising etc) as opposed to fees charged my marketing agencies or other associated costs.

A mental model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world. In UX, understanding users' mental models helps designers create interfaces that align with users' expectations and ways of thinking.

A mental model represents what the user believes to be true about a product's functionality. The more a user's mental model aligns with a product's functionality, the easier it will be for them to use it. There is a hypothesis that this plays a major role in decision-making and how they approach a problem. For example, to navigate further down a page, some users have the mental model of "swiping up" on a screen, whereas other users are accustomed to "scrolling down."

A menu-driven interface offers organized navigation, ideal for non-tech users and complex systems, ensuring guided, quick interactions.

What is a Method of Procedure? A method of procedure (MOP) is a step-by-step guideline for completing a project. Think of it as a detailed roadmap that outlines every step needed to complete a task or project successfully.

Refers to a quantitative variable or measure obtained from a study.

Microcopy is everywhere on interfaces. It's the small bits of text you see on apps or websites that help you navigate it. Think labels on buttons, error messages, placeholder text in input fields, and text on tooltips. Small bits of text, big impact on your product's UX.

Micro-interactions are events which have one main task and they're found all over your device and within apps. Microinteractions happen pairs in which (1) the trigger can be a user action or an alteration in the system's state; (2) the feedback is a narrowly targeted response to the trigger and is communicated through small, highly contextual (usually visual) changes in the user interface. There are commonly used to encourage engagement, display system status, error prevention, communicate the brand, and delight users.

Mid-market refers to a segment of the business market that falls between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large corporations.

Miller's Law "states "The average person can only keep 7 (plus or minus 2) items in their working memory." Organize content into smaller chunks to help users process, understand, and memorize easily. Remember that short-term memory capacity will vary per individual, based on their prior knowledge and situational context.

A mind map is a visual representation through a spider diagram used to represent the thoughts, words, and ideas linked to or arranged around a keyword or theme.

What Is a Minimum Viable Experience (MVE)? In product management, "minimum viable" refers to something the team believes it can release to the market and get meaningful feedback on. An MVE is the simplest version of a product experience that can still deliver value to users and provide learnings to the team.

What is a minimum viable feature? A minimum viable feature (MVF) is the most basic version of a feature that can still provide value to users and allow the team to gather meaningful feedback.

An MVP, or minimum viable product, represents the earliest stage in the product's development cycle at which the company believes it has enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future product development. A Minimum Viable Product, or MVP, refers to a product with core features to launch. The goal of the MVP is to save time & resources by incorporating early customer feedback before committing resources to build features users may not care about or even use. It also serves as a good tangible tool to test the value proposition.

What is MoSCoW Prioritization? MoSCoW prioritization, also known as the MoSCoW method or MoSCoW analysis, is a popular prioritization technique for managing requirements. The acronym stands for Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won't have.

Mobile design focuses on creating user experiences specifically for mobile devices. It involves considerations like touch interactions, varying screen sizes, and the mobile context of use.

The mobile web refers to the use of the internet through handheld mobile devices. Designers create solutions to meet mobile users' unique requirements and restrictions. The focus is typically on accessibility, discoverability, and efficiency to optimize on-the-go interactive experiences.

Mockups are representations of the final design. product. Unlike a prototype, a mockup is static and doesn't include any interactions. This is usually shared with clients and stakeholders between the phases of wireframes and prototypes. A mockup is a realistic visual representation of a product. In this post, we'll discuss the role of mockups in product management and explain how they differ from wireframes and prototypes.

A modal window is a pop-up window within an application. It creates a mode that disables the main application but keeps it visible. Users must interact with the modal before they can proceed or return to the application. Modals are commonly used during onboarding, confirmations, etc.

It's used to show content on top of an overlay and it blocks any interaction with the page until the overlay is clicked, or a close action is triggered.

Monthly recurring revenue is predictable income that a business receives each month. Often a key metric in SaaS or subscription based models. MRR is a calculation of predictable total revenue generated by your business from all the active subscriptions over the period of one month.

A mood board is a collage of images, fonts, interactions, features, icons, and UI elements to communicate the artistic direction of a project.

Motion design in UX involves using animation and transitions to enhance the user experience. Well-designed motion can guide users' attention, provide feedback, and make interfaces feel more responsive and alive.

Multi-channel testing evaluates user experience across platforms like websites and apps, ensuring consistency and seamless user journeys.

A design-optimization method in which multiple variants of specified design elements are tested in a user interface, with the goal of maximizing an analytics metric such as conversion. This method determines which combination of the variants results in the highest-performing design. For example, a multivariate test could be used to determine whether a button should be labeled Place Order or Submit and whether it should be blue or red.

If A/B testing concerns two "variables," then multivariate testing concerns 3 or more options. The goal of multivariate testing is to determine which combination of variations performs the best out of all possible combinations.

Is a six-question questionnaire administered after a task to gauge the perceived workload associated with the task.

NOIR represents the four measurement scales in statistics: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio, categorizing types of data.

Natural language processing (NLP) is the ability of a computer program to understand human speech as it is spoken. They do this by processing and analysing large amounts of language data. NLP is a subfield of linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence.

Natural language interface enables interaction with systems using conversational language, enhancing user-friendliness and accessibility.

Navigation is all about how a user navigates, or moves through, your product. As a designer, it's important to think carefully about navigation to ensure that users don't get lost, confused and frustrated. Simplicity, consistency, good information architecture, labels and menus are all key to user-friendly navigation.

Navigation in UX design refers to the methods and techniques that allow users to move through a digital product. Effective navigation helps users understand where they are, where they can go, and how to get there efficiently.

Navigation design is the aspect of user interface design that deals with guiding users to move through an application or website intuitively and effectively.

Needfinding is the research process of identifying a user's need for a solution. The process of needfinding is based on the observation and study of people. This involves a blend of techniques including interviews carried out by researchers as well as close observations in real-world scenarios. Needfinding is a unique research process that product teams use to identify a market need before building a product. In this post, we'll discuss why needfinding is important and how to conduct it effectively.

Customers who are likely to recommend a product to others.

A Net Promoter Score is used to measure brand loyalty. It is an index ranging from -100 to 100 that measures the willingness of customers to recommend a company's products or services to others. Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a metric used to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction with a product, service, or brand.

The amount of sales generated by a company after deducting returns, damaged, and missing products.

The power of a user to positively impact a product via contribution

A funding model in which funds are raised without giving up equity to the investors. Instead, the investors are paid back a stipulated multiple.

A founder who does not have technical skills but has general business experience, relevant connections, and deep domain expertise. They often serve as a CEO or COO.

A statistical pattern observed in continuous metrics, characterized by the majority of values clustering near the center of the distribution and exhibiting symmetrical distribution around it.

A Norman door is a poorly designed door that confuses or fails to give you an idea whether to push or pull. It was named after Don Norman, the author of The Design of Everyday Things which explored the phenomenon.

This helps companies define objectives and then track the outcomes. It is designed to achieve far-reaching goals in days instead of months.

Refers to the value of a metric acquired from a subset of the user population, typically obtained through sampling.

Clarity that everyone should be using a given product.

Occam's Razor states "Among competing hypotheses that predict equally well, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected." The best method for reducing complexity is to avoid it in the first place. Analyze each element and remove as many as possible, without compromising the overall function. Consider completion only when no additional items can be removed.

Omnichannel is a cross-channel content strategy for retailers. A fully-integrated approach to commerce, providing consumers a unified experience across all channels or touchpoints. Omnichannel merges the worlds of websites, emails, retargeted ads, social media marketing, and physical locations to show personalized offers, products, and messages.

Reaching out to new customers in an attempt to establish brand loyalty.

Onboarding, or user onboarding, is the process of getting new users familiar with your product. Designing an effective, enjoyable onboarding experience is a crucial aspect of designing a good user experience overall---and it's especially important as it only happens once. That means you only have one shot at making a good impression and turning new users into long-term customers. You can learn about best practices for user onboarding over on UXPlanet. The process through which new employees acquire necessary knowledge, behaviors and skills in order to become effective members of the company

Onboarding is the process of introducing new users to a product and helping them get started. A well-designed onboarding experience can increase user engagement and retention by quickly demonstrating the product's value.

In open card sorts, there are no pre-determined categories (hence "open"). Participants sort cards into categories that make the most sense to them, then create their own labels for these groups.

Open questions are those that typically include a what, how, why, when and where component and cannot be answered with a yes or no response.

A percentage measuring how many successfully delivered advertisements were opened by subscribers.

Anything you stumble upon that is open source is available for public use and free. You can use it, modify it, and build with it without running into trouble. For example, Android is an open source operating system.

Margin ratio measuring a company's pricing strategy and operational efficiency.

An Operating System (OS) is a software that acts as an interface between computer hardware components and the user. For example, Mac and Windows are popular operating systems.

Product teams use opportunity scoring as one of several popular strategies for prioritizing features on a product roadmap.

What is an Opportunity Solution Tree? An Opportunity Solution Tree (OST) is a visual aid that helps enable the product discovery process through the organization of ideas and possible solutions.

Shares of a startup specifically reserved for employees. This is used as a way to recruit and incentivize talent.

The right for an investor to buy shares or stock in a company at a predetermined price in the future.

Term describing the event when an investor's liquidation preferences exceed the company's current value.