Ownership Glossary

Browse 34 ownership terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

34 Ownership Terms

Borrowing
In Rust's ownership system, temporarily accessing data owned by another variable without taking ownership — via immutable (&T) or mutable (&mut T) references —...
Cap Table
Cap Table, short for capitalization table, is a detailed record of all equity ownership in a company, showing who owns what percentage, what type of securities...
Cap Table
A capitalization table — a spreadsheet or tool tracking who owns what percentage of a company, including founders, investors, employees (options/RSUs), and...
Code Cold War
A tense standoff between teams, maintainers, or technical factions who avoid open conflict but keep making defensive moves in code and process. In engineering...
Code Inheritance
The body of old code, assumptions, and maintenance obligations a team receives when taking over a system. In engineering slang, code inheritance emphasizes...
Code Kingdom
A territory of code strongly associated with one team, leader, or style, often with its own rules and traditions. In engineering slang, code kingdom can imply...
Code Orphan
Code that no longer has a clear owner or maintaining team. In engineering slang, code orphans are dangerous because they continue to matter operationally even...
Code Owner
A designated person or team responsible for reviewing and approving changes in a specific part of a codebase, often formalized through repository configuration...
Code Ownership
The assignment of responsibility for maintaining, reviewing, and evolving particular parts of a codebase to specific people or teams. Clear code ownership...
Code Ownership Culture
The norms a team has about who is responsible for code quality, changes, incidents, and long-term stewardship. Healthy code ownership culture balances...
Collective Code Ownership
A norm in which the whole team is empowered and expected to improve or fix any part of the codebase instead of treating modules as untouchable personal...
Cut and Run
To make a change, take the immediate gain, and leave before dealing with consequences or cleanup. In engineering slang, cut and run is the social version of...
Deploy and Disappear
To push a deployment and then vanish before validating the outcome or supporting the consequences. In engineering slang, deploy and disappear is a direct...
Dilution
The reduction in existing shareholders' ownership percentage when new shares are issued in a funding round. Each round typically dilutes founders by 15-25%....
Equity
Ownership in a company, usually represented by shares, options, or similar instruments that participate in its upside and governance. In startups, equity is...
Equity Split
How company ownership is divided among founders, employees, investors, or other stakeholders. Early equity splits shape incentives, control, and future...
Extreme Ownership
A leadership mindset that emphasizes taking strong responsibility for outcomes, communication, and team performance rather than deflecting blame. In culture,...
Hit and Run
A change or interaction that causes damage and then leaves before accountability or repair can happen. In engineering slang, hit-and-run behavior is common in...
Holding Company
A parent company created primarily to own shares or assets in other companies rather than to operate the underlying business directly. Holding-company...
Hot Potato
A problem, task, or responsibility that people keep passing to someone else because nobody wants to hold it. In engineering slang, hot potatoes often appear...
Intellectual Property
Legally protectable creations such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and proprietary know-how owned or controlled by a company. In startups,...
IP
Short for intellectual property in startup and business contexts, referring to protected creations such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets....
Knowledge Silo
A body of important knowledge concentrated in too few people or too isolated a team. In engineering slang, knowledge silos are one of the most common hidden...
Lifetime
In Rust, a compile-time annotation that tracks how long a reference is valid, preventing dangling pointers and use-after-free bugs without a garbage...
Management Buyout
A transaction where the existing management team acquires ownership of the business, often with outside financing. It is more common in later-stage or...
MBO
Usually shorthand for management buyout, where the management team acquires the business. In some operating contexts MBO can also mean management by...
Not My Department
A phrase used to reject responsibility by pointing to organizational boundaries rather than solving the immediate issue. It is usually heard as bureaucratic...
Pet Project
A project championed strongly by an individual, sometimes because they care deeply about it and sometimes because they are overly attached to it.
Pro Rata
In proportion to an existing ownership stake or allocation. In venture financings, pro rata rights let investors buy enough in later rounds to maintain their...
Risk Owner
The person or role accountable for deciding how a specific risk will be handled and for accepting the consequences of that decision. A risk owner is not always...
Solo Flight
Handling a task or system alone without much immediate support. In engineering slang, solo flights can build confidence or expose dangerous knowledge...
Take the Wheel
To step in and assume active control of a situation. In engineering slang, taking the wheel often happens when a discussion is stuck and someone needs to drive...
Too Many Cooks
A situation where too many people are trying to influence or change the same thing, making progress worse instead of better. In engineering slang, too many...
You Break It You Fix It
A principle that the people who cause a problem should help resolve it. In engineering slang, this creates stronger feedback loops between shipping decisions...

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