Our glossary is provided as a service to the facilitation community.

The facilitator's vocabulary is a critical tool in communicating the purpose, means, and results of a facilitation effort. We have built this vocabulary over many years. Many of the terms have been thrashed about again and again. We believe this lexicon provides a solid foundation for facilitators and participants.

Instructions for linking to our glossary are at the bottom of this page. We invite you to link to this page and help establish a common vocabulary among facilitators.

INDEX

A  |   B  |   C  |   D  |   E  |   F  |   G  |   H  |   I  |   J  |   K  |   L  |   M

N  |   O  |   P  |   Q  |   R  |   S  |   T  |   U  |   V  |   W  |   X  |   Y  |   Z

TERMS

A

Activity

A series of steps carried out in response to a business event such as receiving an invoice. Activities have definite starts and stops. Activities describe WHAT needs to happen rather than HOW they may happen. Paying bills or accelerating are examples of WHAT, while writing cheques or pushing the gas pedal with your foot are an example of HOW. WHAT items are abstract and hard to visualize while HOW items are concrete and more easily visualized.

Advocate

Someone who speaks up for her/himself and members of his/her identity group; e.g., a person who lobbies for less overtime for his/her field crew.

Agenda

List of items to be covered in a workshop session. The agenda governs the process, not the subject matter.

Agility

Perpetual state of innovation, moving quickly yet thoroughly through product and process development that creates competitive advantage and increases stakeholder value.

Alignment

The forming of relationships between activities and objectives to note any inconsistencies or gaps that may require a modification or addition to a plan.

Ally

A person of one business subgroup or social identity group who stands up in support of members of another group; e.g., a person in sales supporting the position of another in customer service.

Analyze

To examine critically and in detail.

Approach

Method or way of dealing with or accomplishing something, i.e., a way of analyzing a problem.

Artifact

An artifact is the result of any human endeavor. An artifact in software development includes but is not limited to: requirements, specifications, architectures, designs, code, test plans and procedures, and other work product..

Attribute

The smallest piece of information kept about something, e.g., invoice number is an attribute about an invoice. Synonyms are "fact" and "characteristic."

B

Basic Design Agenda

A series of steps that are repeated throughout a detailed design workshop.

Blamestorming

A group activity in which all members of a group spontaneously contribute names and reasons of persons and reasons for a failure or mistake. A meeting intended to determine whom is the cause of project failure, error in a report, or missing a deadline. This activity is typically not a facilitated activity, although it is usually led by a person most likely to be guilty of blame, and for whom the need to place blame on another is greatest. A multi-step activity that: (1) places blame on the innocent, (2) absolves the guilty, (3) and heaps praise on the uninvolved.

Brainstorming

A three-step method in which all members of a group spontaneously contribute ideas. The first step consists of listing subject items without challenging. The second step provides analysis based on relevance and impact. The third step converges the ideas by codifying them and making them fully articulate and understood by outsiders.

Bug

An error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in software that prevents it from working correctly or produces an incorrect result. Bugs arise from mistakes and errors, made by people, in either a program's source code or its design. “Defect” is a broader term than “bug,” in that “defects” may exist in specifications, requirements, documentation, tests, and plans, as well as in code..

Business Area

An area of the enterprise made up of a collection of processes all in support of a common business purpose. This is not an organization, but a process view such as Payables Management.

Business Function

A group of logically connected tasks performed together, in some logical sequence, to accomplish an objective or deliver a business product. Functions define who performs a process.

Business Rules

The encoded knowledge of your business practice. An atomic piece of reusable business logic.

Business System

A method or procedure for executing a business process or processes.

Business Systems Design

The description of the underlying technology necessary to support a defined business system. The specification for programs, databases, communications, and architecture.

C

Catalyst℠

A methodology for managing ideas including creation of ideas, gathering ideas, managing and improving ideas, and a means of selecting ideas; developed by Morgan Madison & Company specifically for new product development.

Change

To transform or give a different course of action.

Class

A high level template for organizing objects or entities – items about which we keep information. A vendor is a class while a consulting group may be an object or entity within that class.

Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning is a process to enhance decision-making through shared understanding. Collaborative Learning uses ideas from soft systems methodology (a theory of learning) and alternative dispute resolution. Participants work together to learn more about the interrelation of their respective systems. The goal is not solving a particular problem, but improving a situation, which is framed as a set of interrelated systems. The shared knowledge (of individuals, systems, and processes) results in improved communication and thus improved negotiations. These improvements increase the learning capacity of the individuals and thus their collective organization.

Community of Best Practices (aka CoP)

Also known as Community of Practice (CoP) or Center of Excellence (CoE). A team of people established to promote collaboration and the application (and replication) of best practices. Informal or formal collegial network of past and present co-workers, customers, instructors, and vendors to use as a ready source of job-related information, guidance, and assistance.

Computer Program

A sequence of instructions suitable for processing by a computer. Processing may include the use of an assembler, a compiler, an interpreter, or a translator to prepare the program for execution. A computer program may be stored on magnetic media and referred to as “software,” or it may be stored permanently on computer chips, referred to as “firmware.” Computer programs suitable for a Peer Review Investigation include those used for design analysis, data acquisition, data reduction, data storage (databases), and operation or control..

Conflict Mapping

The activity of documenting, most often by diagram, a conceptual model of a conflict. The purpose of mapping is to express a person's or group's concept of a conflict, to communicate same to others, and to have a shared reference for diagnosis of the cause, nature of, and possible solutions to the conflict. The activity of conflict mapping is facilitator-led by a through a series of steps to include: stating the issue, identifying the involved/affected parties, identifying the major relevant interests (concerns) of the involved/affected parties, and identification of possible resolution sets. One of the important roles of the facilitator is to assure a neutrality through the process, recognize dysfunction within the group, ease the group through an often unfamiliar process, apply sensitivity to participants' often discordant interests, and structure a solution.

Consensus

A position reach by a group when everyone in the group can say, "I can live with it." That means that all participants may not find the outcome as their ideal solution, but it is not worth arguing about – they can live with it and can support it, they can sleep at night.

Content

The substance offered up by participants or subject matter experts as a response to a question. Content could be based on fact, evidence, or even opinion.

Context

The form, method, shape, and tone of an answer or content but not the content itself. Context is like a blank template while content fills-in the blanks.

Context Diagram

This is a picture that represents the business and all those other businesses, systems, or people outside of this business who provide information or work and receive information or work relative to this business. This deliverable describes the scope of a business.

Converge

The final step in the brainstorming process. To move from a state of having many concepts to a state of having a focus on, and understanding of, fewer concepts worthy of further attention. The goal of convergence is for a group to reduce their cognitive load by reducing the number of concepts they must address.

Corrective Action

Any measures taken to rectify conditions adverse to quality and, where possible, to preclude their recurrence.

Cube Farm

An office space consisting of cubicle work spaces, or cubicles. Where prairie dogging is observed.
Wikipedia article defining Cubicle

Customer

May include users, consumers, demanders, commanders, and requestors. Any person or entity who interacts directly or indirectly with any business system, thus it can be a client within internal departments, a supplier from the procurement process, an employee, or someone who is ringing up the cash register.

D

Data Flow Diagram (DFD)

This picture represents the functions, stores of information, and their relationship for a given business. This is what goes on inside the business depicted in the context diagram. This deliverable describes functions of a business.

Data Model

See "Entity Relationship Diagram.".

Defect

An instance that is: A requirement, standard, or convention is not satisfied, or A requirement fails to represent the intended (client’s) purpose. A test fails to reveal that a requirement, standard, or convention is not satisfied.

Decision Support

A tool or mechanism that assists in analyzing information and arriving at a conclusion.

Deliverable

a realistic outcome that can be documented and explained to others.

Design Documentation (or Design Specification)

This deliverable is often called "specifications." This contains the descriptions of screens, reports, procedures, etc., which are required to describe exactly how a job is going to be done.

Detailed Design

A description of a business function at its most precise level. This includes a step-by-step description of tasks and their procedure.

Diverge

The first step in the brainstorming process. To move from a state of having fewer concepts to a state of having more concepts. The goal of divergence is for a group to create concepts that have not yet been considered. Divergence can start with no concepts in place (i.e., from scratch) or with a number of concepts as starting points for inspiration, analysis, or elaboration.

Document

Any written or pictorial information describing, defining, specifying, reporting, or certifying activities, requirements, procedures, or results.

E

Enterprise Model

This is a picture of the business or enterprise at a high level. This depicts the primary business areas, processes, and classes of information required for a business to carry out its mission. This deliverable describes the scope of an enterprise.

Entity

This is any person, place, thing, event, or concept about which a business keeps information. Some methods use "entity" and "object" as synonyms.

Entity Relationship

A relation is the policy of how one entity relates to another entity. Example – "Each invoice is submitted by just one vendor." The relationship is "submitted by just one." That defines a business rule between vendors and invoices.

Entity Relationship Diagram

This deliverable documents all of the entity relations or business Diagram rules of a given business area. This is used to clarify business rules and, ultimately, aids in data base design and policy writing.

Environment

The circumstances and conditions that surround a process, function, or activity.

Essence

The essence of a system is a description of the processes that occur in even a perfect environment. The essence is a "logical" depiction of a system – that is, one without influence of technology, people (for errors), or other constraints not related to a perfectly run business. The essence is important in understanding what any business is really all about.

External Business System Design

A description of the business process and tasks from a physical and logical point of view – not of the underlying technology that may be necessary to support the defined system.

External Interfaces

People, organizations, computer systems, etc. that communicate with the business process being discussed, but are not a part of the specific business process.

F

Facilitate

(Verb) The act of assisting or making easier an action, activity, event, process, or phenomenon; in our context, to Facilitate is to impartially control all tasks needed to conduct optimal meetings and workshops. To Facilitate is to serve the group by encouraging, aiding, and leading group decision-making.

Facilitation

(Noun) The condition of having something made easier. (Like a catalyst in that facilitation makes easy a previously difficult activity with little or no extra energy expended on the part of the group participants.)

In our context, Facilitation (n.) is the set of all tasks needed to impartially run a meeting. Facilitation serves the group to encourage, aid, and lead group decision-making. Facilitation does not "manage" nor entertain the group but does control the process.

Facilitation integrates the art of language, meaning, and people with the science of process and structure.

Facilitator

A neutral leader who makes a process easier, e.g., a Session Leader. The term Facilitator is derived partially from the Old French faculte via Latin facultås, or parallel form of facilitås. Both were derived from Latin faciilis or easy, an adjective formed from the verb facere, or to do. Retains a connotation of easiness whereas derivation meant closer to capability or power---combines the dimensions of both enable and empower that align well with Tuckman and similar models of group behavior.

Familiarization

The process of gathering information about a subject or business without the objective of becoming an expert, i.e., Preparation.

FAST

Originally an acronym for "Facilitated Application Specification Technique." Since its origin in 1983, FAST has continuously evolved to become a highly structured, formal (but flexible) technique for guiding and directing the work of people in workshops and meetings. You may also think of it as the opposite of slow.

FAST was originally an improvement over JAD (a technique pioneered at IBM). FAST now embraces JAD, JAR, and numerous other methodologies (that have specific usefulness but are limited and lack the breadth and flexibility of FAST).

FAST has been effectively used to: improve the productivity of teams; reduce specification and design errors; shorten project duration; improve budget performance; develop implementable strategies; build cohesive support for plans; mediate disputes between individuals, departments, and organizations; and to manage the many types personalities that appear in every meeting and workshop.

FAST includes - and does not displace - analytical methodologies. FAST helps teams employ their favorite and most effective analytical methods - more efficiently and with more "ownership."

Function

A business activity that has no start or stop – an ongoing activity of a business area, such as Vendor Maintenance, that is tied to an organization, i.e., an implemented process tied to an organization.

Functional Specification

During software development, the functional specification details how the software product or application is supposed to achieve the tasks laid out in the Design Specification, which describes the Detailed Design.

Fuzzy

Lacking in specificity and objective measurement. Others recall Fuzzy as a bear without hair.

G

GAMEY

E-commerce giants including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, eBay, and Yahoo.

Group Dynamics

The psychological aspect or conduct of an interpersonal relationship. This is the study of the interaction between people with a common objective in a closed environment.

Guardian

Caring and protecting the value of what has been agreed upon or assigned.

Guiding Principle

See "Values."

H

High-level

Discussion pertaining to broad business functions, areas, or problems. Not delving into detailed descriptions of business areas, processes, or components of functions.

Information Model

An information model is a graphical representation of how information or data entities relate to each other (a logical Data Model). This is a conceptual view of a business – conceptual in that it is completely devoid of physical attributes. An example is "Customers pay invoices." This defines the relationship between customers and invoices. See "Entity Relationship Diagram."; also referred to as "ERD"

I

Ideation

The first of three steps in the brainstorming process, akin to diverge. Encouraging the free flow of ideas and options in a fast-paced, high-energy environment without discussion or judgment.

Innovation

Doing something new or different that increases value-add for the organization, typically something that increases the top line or mitigates the middle line so that the bottom line is positively impacted.

Input

Information or work that comes into a business process.

Inspection

The examination or measurement of an item or activity to verify conformance to specific requirements. For example, “software inspections” are a disciplined approach to detect and correct defects in software artifacts, and to prevent defects from surviving into operations. Software inspections are common practice in organizations committed to certain quality approaches, such as ISO 9000, Six Sigma® (Motorola), Capability Maturity Model® (Carnegie-Mellon University).

Integrated

Holistic perspective that encourages the integration rather than exclusion of plurality or multiple perspectives.

Intelligence

An operating network that has a way of controlling the flow of information and manipulating it -- in other words, problem-solving.

Issues

Discussion points to which there exists disagreement amongst the group discussing, e.g., Open Items.

J

JAD - Joint Application Design

JAD is an acronym for "Joint Application Design." Chuck Morris and Tony Crawford of IBM developed JAD during the period 1977 through 1980. JAD was originally used to design computer systems - screens, reports, etc. Later, Tony Crawford added a process called "JAD Plan" to help develop the scope of work. JAD was an alternative to the typical approach of serial interviews of users by system analysts.

JAD is commonly thought of as an approach to systems analysis and design that emphasizes teamwork between user and technical expert (designer); today, this relationship is often between business systems analyst and architect or designer, or "the business people" and "the IT people." The defining characteristic of JAD is that small groups meet to determine system objectives and the business transactions that will be supported, using practical language, in a structured but natural and highly guided process. The workshops are run by a neutral facilitator who can move the group toward well-defined goals. Although not technically correct, JAD is also referred to as "joint application development" rather than "design".

JAR - Joint Application Requirements

JAR is an acronym for "Joint Application Requirements."

K

KPI - Key Performance Indicator

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a critical measurement of the performance of essential tasks, operations, or processes. A KPI will usually unambiguously reveal conditions or performance that is outside the norm and that signals a need for managerial intervention. A KPI is particular to a specific operation; a KPI for one subordinate operation may not be "key" to a superior operation. A KPI can be quantitative or qualitative, objective or subjective, although preferably quantitative, unambiguous, and reliable.

L

Legacy

Software elements (architecture, code, requirements) written specifically for one project and, without intent during its initial development, used on other projects. Most often the software that exists before a projects starts that is the context for the newly developed/installed software.

Life Cycle

A series of defined phases in the process of designing, building, maintaining, and retiring a business system. See "SDLC."

Linguistics

The nature, structure, and variation of language; including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and pragmatics.

Logical

Logical refers to the graphical representation of a system or business that is devoid of technology. See "Essence.’

M

Management Perspective

The document that defines a workshop. It defines the workshop purpose, scope, and deliverables.

Measure

How success in achieving the strategy will be measured. Key for a facilitator to challenge the underlying measurements for adjectives and adverbs such as quality and quickly.

Meter

Standardized in 1983 to the length equal to the distance traveled by light in a vacuum in (1 / 299,792,458) second.

Meeting Wrangler

(orig. Texas) Facilitator (probably from the association with horse-wrangler, a ranch hand who takes care of the saddle horses); in organizations, the corporate hand who takes care of the meeting attendees. (We're kidding. Thanks for the submission, Art W.)

Mickey

The ratio of computer mouse movement to onscreen cursor movement.

Mission

This statement about a group defines their reason for existence, their product or service, and their customer or market.

Morpheme

The smallest linguistic unit that has semantic meaning.

N

Natural Language Processing

A convention for attempts to use computers to process natural language.

Nemawashi

(Japanese) A process or technique of soliciting feedback and support informally, through serial one-on-one review of a proposal, idea, or initiative. Sometimes known as a "walk around," as in walking around a project idea or business case with various subject matter experts, department heads, or executives.

Useful when the organizational structure allows a person to vote "no" to kill an idea but no (or few) individuals are charged with responsibility for a deciding "yes." The absence of a "no" in a formal review or presentation oftens connotes a decision to proceed, thus the "walk around" to air all worthy objections prior to a formal review or presentation.

From Japanese for "digging" around "roots"; alternatively, as "root-binding," from the bonsai culture (to shape the growth by careful placement of roots). Connotation is "to lay the foundation."

Nibble

Typically four bits of binary code, or half a byte.

Nominal Group Technique (NGT)

Nominal group technique is an approach to group activity. NGT can be applied to ideation, analysis, and decision-making, as examples. It involves two major steps: first, individual (private) ideation, and second, a group discussion of the individually created ideas (or analysis, or decision). Thus, members' contributions are made in "parallel" and "cooperatively," with an intent to maximize the performance of the group to suit the individual styles of the members.

The benefits of NGT are that undercontributing members (of the group) have an opportunity to contribute through individual activity (such as ideation), and that overactive members will have their dominance reduced. This approach balances the level of contribution from all group members.

NGT may be applied where the facilitator feels that group activities may inhibit individual creativity and participation. NGT can balance and increase participation; improve representativeness of individuals or subgroups; stimulate reluctant participants; and to avoid/reduce errors in gathering individual input into group decisions.

In NGT, the facilitator guides participants in individual structured activity, such as voting (as in decision-making), or more commonly in writing ideas silently (rather than offering ideas vocally and possibly competitively or in a round-robin broadcast). NGT can be employed to control the level of intensity and interaction (or lack thereof) in a workshop/meeting.

No-A**holes Policy (NAP)

A self-serving policy of providing goods or services only to individuals or organizations that do NOT exhibit disrespectful, overly-demanding, and/or unreasonable behavior. Often used by service firms to filter "bad" clients from good. A successful approach to restrict growth. Can, at times, lead to improved (individual's or organization's) lifestyle and morale through reduction of stress, deadlines, and requirements to perform.

Also applies between individuals, such as between employee and boss, thus leading directly to time spent (by former employee) in the unemployment line or wish-I-still-had-my-job interviews. This policy can be subverted by holier-than-thou righteous and high-maintenance employees whose perception of entitlement aligns best with overly-polite, under-demanding, and wimpy management.

The NAP is best applied when attempting to limit one's income and/or career opportunities.

O

Object

This is an entity along with all of the incorporated methods or procedures for operating on the information about that entity.

Object Model

This is a deliverable that documents the objects of a given business along with the messages they send to each other to cause some action to occur and the types of operations permitted for each object.

Objective

Objectives are measurable restatements of goals. In this case, these are the targets that a group is trying to hit. "Objectives" must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based targets for a group. Reaching an objectives is akin to reaching a goal.

Ohnosecond

The split second when a person realizes he/she has just made a BIG mistake (e.g. you've hit 'reply all').

Organization

This is an arbitrarily defined group of people in a business. Accounts Payable is an organization. Organizations occur at all levels (e.g., Accounts Payable is an organization within the Accounting Department).

Organizational Chart

This deliverable describes or documents how organizational units are related – i.e., who reports to whom. This can be hierarchical, matrix, or any other form appropriate to a group.

Organization Development (OD)

A body of knowledge and field of professional expertise whose goal is the improvement of organizational performance through focus on individual (human) and team performance and interaction. Practically applied, OD may impact strategic planning (process for, and individual inclusion in), leadership development (practices, skills, and values), organization design (structure, succession, performance measurement), and training (skills, experiences, coaching, work/family balance).
 
Structured facilitation supports organizational development through its significant contribution to team work performance and team/individual commitment to goals. As a skill, structured facilitation enhances an individual's performance through a superior understanding of group behavior, values, dysfunctions, commitment, and performance.

Output

Work or information that goes out of a process.

P

Participatory Dialogue

As defined by the United Nations, Participatory Dialogue is defined as a process that provides people with safe space and opportunity to engage in communication and action based on rights and responsibilities.
 
The UN Charter articulates a determination to "practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours." The goal "to build a safe, stable and just society for all, and achieve sustainable development and peace" is enabled by efforts "to facilitate people’s full participation, and foster mutual understanding and accommodation through participatory dialogue."    United Nations link

 

PDCA - PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT

PDCA/PDSA (PDSA = Plan-Do-STUDY-Act) refers to a continuous quality improve model made popular by Edward Deming's work in quality management. Also known as the "Deming Cycle" and the "Deming wheel of continuous improvement." The concept originated from the 1920s (a statistics expert, Walter Shewhart) as PLAN-DO-SEE.

• PLAN: plan the change; analyze and predict results
• DO: execute the plan in incremental changes; control the environment
• CHECK/STUDY: check your progress/study the results
• ACT: act to standardize work and/or refine the process

Percussive Maintenance

The fine art of whacking an electronic device to get it to work again. Persistent and vigorous use of this technique can render an electronic device permanently non-functional. Becoming non-functional can occur to the person performing this technique to another person's gadget. Not to be confused with preventative maintenance.

Peer Review

A workshop activity where persons other than the author of a work product examine the work product to identify defects and opportunities for improvement.

Physical

Physical refers to a graphical representation of a business or system that includes all the necessary technical and physical attributes needed to build the system.

Plan

An orderly arrangement of the parts of an overall design; a detailed program. In the context of a workshop, a Plan captures the actions and next steps delivered consensually during a meeting or workshop; largely equivalent to "who does what different tomorrow."

Policy

This is a business rule – how a business wishes to manage its process and or information.

Power Asymmetry

An imbalance in power within a group. One or more people hold a power, real or perceived, over others in the group.

Prairie Dogging

When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on.

Procedure

This is the step-by-step process for carrying out a specific activity. This defines how a job is to be done.

Process

A set of interrelated resources and activities that transforms inputs into outputs. Examples of processes include analysis, design, data collection, operation, fabrication, and calculation. The essential actions in a business – what must be done irrespective of who or how. This covers all levels – from "Customer Maintenance" down to "Set up customer." A process is the underlying "what" of a procedure’s "how."

Process Decomposition Diagram

This deliverable documents how the processes of a given business area are organized. For example, Payable Management includes Vendor Maintenance, which has an activity of Set Up Vendor. This illustrates a process view – not an organizational view.

Program

This is synonymous with "Project." This is a specific set of tasks, with defined start and stop dates, in support of a business strategy.

Project Size

The estimated or actual number of corporate effort hours (data processing and business personnel) required to deliver a system from requirements through installation. For convention: Small projects are those under 2000 effort hours. Medium projects are those between 2001 and 10,000 effort hours. Large projects are those over 10,000 effort hours. Very large projects are those over 20,000 effort hours.

Purpose

The intended reason for a project, workshop, or process. The primary reason that each exists.

Q

Quality

The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to meet the stated or implied needs and expectations of the client/customer.

R

RAD

This is a process that short cuts the standard life cycle to enable delivery of systems faster. Its basis is to analyze data and design process.

RASI

RASI is an acronym for the result of a workgroup activity that identifies the roles, responsibilities, and timing during change processes. It can be applied to initiatives, platform projects, activities, or tasks. Specifically it identifies who is:

• Responsible (ie, owns the action),
• Accountable (ie, must sign off or approve),
• Supports (ie, can provide resources or can play a supporting role in implementation), and
• Informed (ie, must be notified of results)

Derivations include: ALRIC, RASCI, RASIC, and PARIS (all are explained more fully in class).

Re-Engineering

This is a term for doing analysis and design for optimal performance – analyze business and design procedures and systems.

Requirement

A formal statement of a need and the expected manner that the need is to be met.

Resource

This is something of substance for a business – such as funds, human resources, or customers. A resource can be equated to a subject area in a business.

Resource Life Cycle

This deliverable describes all of the resources for a given business, their life cycle (birth to death value-added functions), and the precedence between resources. This deliverable is used to define an enterprise architecture and series of subject areas.

Responsibility Matrix

This deliverable documents who is responsible for each task or activity. Can be used to document responsibilities at all levels of detail – from an organization’s responsibility for projects down to a person’s responsibility for a task (RASI).

Result

A result is an outcome, product, intentions met, or objectives accomplished; the effect arising from a cause.

Rhetoric

The process of adjusting ideas to people and people to ideas.

Risk Management

An organized, systematic decision-making process that efficiently identifies, analyzes, plans, tracks, controls, communicates, and documents risk to increase the likelihood of achieving program/project goals.

RUP

RUP (Rational Unified Process) is an approach for software design created by Rational Software Corporation. (Rational is now owned by IBM.) RUP is characterized by iterative design (a macro model of development) derived from an understanding of common modes of software development failures (such as too much complexity, inadequate testing, and ad hoc/unstructured requirements gathering). It is a framework (that is, "basic conceptional structure") and is distinguished as not being a specific method or methodology.

S

Scope

This is the areas, functions, etc., covered by the effort. Scope defines boundary and may be defined separately for a business, process, project, and workshop.

Scoville Heat Unit

The Scoville heat unit is the closest thing to a standard for measuring the heat in a pepper. It is a measurement that involves adding sugar to a solution until one can no longer taste the pepper. The more sugar, the higher the spice, the greater the measurement in Scoville units. By this measurement, a habanero pepper at 250,000shu is about six times hotter than a tabasco pepper at 40,000shu.

Second

Standardized in 1967 to the time it takes for a cesium-133 atom to cycle 9,192,631,770 times between two specific quantum states.

Semantic Gap

Misunderstanding due to language or jargon differences.

Session Leader

A prepared facilitator.

Shake

Ten nanoseconds.

SIPOC

A use case tool that captures the following items in order of the term: S=Source, I = Input, P=Process (or activity), O=Output, and C=Client (or customer of the output).

Six Sigma

Six Sigma at many organizations is a measure of quality that strives for near perfection. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven philosophy and methodology for eliminating defects (driving towards six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process.

The statistical representation of Six Sigma describes quantitatively how a process is performing. To achieve Six Sigma, a process must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. A Six Sigma defect is defined as anything outside of customer specifications. A Six Sigma opportunity is then the total quantity of chances for a defect.

SMART

SMART is an MG Rush-created acronym for Specific, Measurable, Adjustable, Reliable, and Time-based. This acronym is used to as mnemonic to qualify goals, as in "Our goals must be 'SMART' - specific, measurable, adjustable, reliable, and time-based."

Software

Computer programs, procedures, rules, and associated documentation and data pertaining to the development and operation of a computer system. Software includes programs and operational data. This also includes commercial off-the-shelf, modified off-the-shelf, reuse, auto code generated, firmware, and open source software components.

Specifications

A detailed and exact statement of functions, procedures, screens, reports, materials, etc., required to build a given system.

Strategic Plan

This plan documents who an organization is, where they are going, and how they are going to get there.

Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning is the process of answering the questions: "Where are we going? What should we be doing? and How will we do it?" In organizations, it is the planning that embraces the entire enterprise (cross function) and intended for various horizons, and considers significant future events that have the potential to radically alter the organization; "far, wide, and high-level."

Strategy

A strategy is a statement of what an organization should be doing to achieve its objectives. Strategies have no start or end dates. Strategies contain many programs or projects.

Structured Data

Any data kept in an electronic record, where each piece of information has an assigned format and meaning.

Sub-Process

See "Process"

System

The combination of elements that function together to produce the capability required to meet a need. The elements include all hardware, software, equipment, facilities, personnel, processes, and procedures needed for this purpose.

System Development Life Cycle or SDLC

A system development life cycle (SDLC) is a way of separating a Life Cycle (SDLC) system development project into distinct groups of activities and providing management checkpoints. Each grouping of activities is commonly called a "Phase." Typically, the SDLC includes these phases: conception of the product (or application), design, development, testing, and finally shipping the tested product (or application). Referred to by some as Software Development Life Cycle

T

Target

The level of performance or improvement needed.

Team

Two or more draft animals harnessed together. Just kidding. The team represents the participants in attendance and may include those with an excused absence.

Technical Review

A documented critical review of work that has been performed within the state-of-the-art. The review is accomplished by qualified reviewers who are independent of those who performed the work but are collectively equivalent in technical expertise to those who performed the original work. The review is an in-depth analysis and evaluation of documents, activities, material, data, or items that require technical verification or validation for applicability, correctness, adequacy, completeness, and assurance that established requirements have been satisfied.

The

Definite article to indicate that a following noun or noun equivalent; eg, gerund, has been previously specified by context or by circumstance.

Thing

See "Entity"

Thingette

See "Attribute"

TRIZ

A collection of methods and philosophies centered on the notion that invention can be a structured and prescribed process (rather than divine or spontaneous event). Ascribed to Genrich Altshuller as the developer, and dated to 1946. TRIZ is built on the opportunity to resolve contradictions between concurrent (and generally conflicting) goals (as in engineering design). Resolving the conflicts may result in invention. The promise of TRIZ is to create a "science of invention."

Transaction

The act of carrying out a business function. The defined procedures and associated computer and manual steps needed to accomplish the process.

Twip

One-twentieth of a typesetting point.

U

Unstructured Data

Any data stored outside a formatted database of numbers and letters. This can include e-mail messages, complicated reports, presentations, voice mail, still images, and video.

V

Validation

Proof that the product accomplishes the intended purpose; may be determined by a combination of test, analysis, and demonstration. Software validation also includes software peer review and inspection.

Values

These are what an organization believes in such as "the Customer is always right." They are used to guide everyday decision-making and resolve conflict.

Verification

Proof of compliance with specifications by objective evidence through test or examination; may be determined by a combination of test, analysis, demonstration, and inspection. In design and development, verification is the process of examining a result of a given activity to determine conformance to the stated requirements for that activity.

Vision

This is a clear and compelling image of the desired end results in sufficient detail that it can be recognized it as complete once accomplished. This sets the overall direction for a business. Objectives support the vision. A Vision is intended for planning and communication, thus a Vision should be purposefully articulated to bridge the present and future; it should serve as a critical impetus for change; it should be brief, memorable, and sufficiently complete to direct effort.

W

Walkthrough

A less intensive form of review (than an “inspection”). Walkthroughs do not provide measured results, do not have the formality of an inspection, or documented output. As a result, walkthroughs are not consistent with the implementation of statistical process control for software design, development, or maintenance.

Workout

Workshop with highly cross-functional participants that meet to fix workflow or process problems and take unnecessary work out of work. Requires a sponsor to ensure that recommendations are embraced. Agenda follows an issue, symptoms, root causes, cost-benefit analysis format.

LINK INSTRUCTIONS

We welcome links to the facilitators' glossary. You can link can point to this page or to a particular group (by letter) of terms, or to a particular word.

• Link to this page using this URL:
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• Link to a letter group on this page using:
  http://www.mgrush.com/content/view/70/33/#a, where #a denotes the letter group for words beginning with "A" (anchors are all in lower case)
   
• Link to a specific word (anchors are in lower case) using:
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