Workflows Glossary

Browse 25 workflows terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

25 Workflows Terms

Ad Hoc
Created or done for a specific immediate purpose rather than as part of a permanent, well-structured system. In engineering culture, ad hoc solutions are...
Agentic Loop
A repeated cycle where an AI system plans, acts, observes results, and continues until a goal is reached or a stopping rule fires.
Agile Estimation
The practice of estimating work in agile environments, often using relative sizing, story points, or lightweight forecasting instead of exact hour counts....
AI Orchestrator
A system component that routes tasks among models, tools, or services and manages the overall execution flow of an AI application.
AI Task
A specific job assigned to or handled by an AI system, such as summarizing a document, extracting fields, ranking candidates, or answering a question. AI tasks...
AI Tax
The extra cost, latency, review burden, or complexity introduced by adding AI to a workflow that otherwise might have been simpler.
AI Workflow
A structured sequence of steps in which AI is used as part of a broader task, often alongside retrieval, validation, human review, and downstream systems. AI...
Alt-Tab
To switch quickly between open windows or applications using the `Alt+Tab` keyboard shortcut, especially on Windows and Linux desktops. In slang, it also...
Backlog Grooming
The process of reviewing, organizing, clarifying, splitting, or reprioritizing backlog items so future work is easier to plan. The term is still common, though...
Baseline
A starting reference point used for comparison, measurement, or evaluation. In tech work, baselines help teams judge whether a change actually improved...
Bug Priority
The relative urgency assigned to fixing a bug based on business impact, user pain, deadlines, or operational risk. Bug priority is about when the bug should be...
Code Session
A period of focused time spent coding, alone or with others, often framed deliberately as a working block. In culture, the phrase often implies intentional...
Cognitive Load
The amount of mental effort required to understand, remember, or act on information in a given situation. In tech culture the concept is widely used in...
Content Management
The creation, storage, organization, versioning, and publishing of text, media, and structured content in software systems. Content management features often...
Digital Toolkit
The collection of digital tools a person or team uses regularly to communicate, build, organize, and operate. In work culture, the digital toolkit can either...
Estimation
The act of forecasting how much time, effort, complexity, or uncertainty a task or project involves. In software culture estimation is useful, but only if...
Export Culture
A team or product habit where users repeatedly export data to spreadsheets, CSVs, or other tools because the core system does not support the analysis or...
Fast Lane
A prioritized path or process designed to move some requests, fixes, or decisions more quickly than the normal queue. In work culture fast lanes can be helpful...
Getting Things Done
A productivity method popularized by David Allen, often abbreviated as GTD, centered on capturing tasks, clarifying actions, organizing contexts, and reviewing...
GTD
An abbreviation for Getting Things Done, the productivity system focused on capturing commitments, clarifying next actions, and reviewing work regularly. In...
High Priority
Marked as urgent or important enough to receive faster attention, escalation, or queue position than normal work. In many organizations it is both necessary...
Inbox Zero
A productivity approach aimed at regularly processing email until the inbox is empty or near-empty, typically by replying, delegating, archiving, or scheduling...
LLM Workflow
A workflow in which large language models play one or more central roles, often alongside retrieval, tools, review, and business logic. The phrase emphasizes...
Reopened
Marked as active again after being previously considered resolved or closed, usually because the problem persists or a regression reappeared. It is a dreaded...
Scaffold
A structured workflow around a model, including prompts, tools, retries, memory, or routing logic, used to make a system more capable than a raw single call.

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