The Terminology Tar Pit

In the early 1990s there were debates about object-oriented modeling notations and which ones were the best. Thankfully, the Unified Modeling Language (UML) became a de facto standard and ended the so called “notation wars.” Unfortunately we now have the agile method wars—branded methods based on metaphors, unique terminology, and sometimes questionable certification programs.

To better understand the terminology tar pit in which we find ourselves, consider Table 3.2, which summarizes common terms from several agile sources. This table is a rough mapping of the terminology used in the DAD process framework to that of Scrum, XP, Agile Modeling, and other sources. It’s important to note that the mapping isn’t one-to-one; this is particularly true for the first row, which maps the differing concepts of lead/coach/master/manager to each other. Furthermore there is no consensus around official agile terminology, nor is there likely to be any time soon. In DAD we have avoided the proprietary branded terminology from the various methods and have instead adopted simple and intuitive terms wherever possible.