Find a term
Understand the metrics, models, and methods behind modern engineering. Clear definitions, practical examples, and a closer look at what the numbers actually mean.
Terms beginning with D
176 termsDelimiting
Delimiting is a language-model concept about generation behavior and sampling. It names a mechanism, representation, prompting pattern, decoding control, or context behavior that can change how an AI system processes input and produces output.
LLM fundamentalsDelivery age
Delivery age is the time since a work item crossed a stated delivery start boundary while remaining unfinished. It is an active-work signal for intervention and forecasting.
Flow and capacity planningDelivery confidence
Delivery confidence is a developer productivity concept that helps teams understand delivery confidence in the context of software delivery.
Developer productivityDelivery forecast
Delivery forecast is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planningDelivery friction
Delivery friction is avoidable difficulty that slows or complicates the movement of a software change from request to usable result. It can appear as waiting, unclear ownership, repeated handoffs, unreliable tools, difficult environments, or feedback that arrives too late to help.
Developer productivityDelivery pipeline
Delivery pipeline is a software delivery concept used to describe a specific event, interval, control, or operating condition in the path from source change to production behavior. A useful definition names the boundary, unit, and decision the measure supports.
DORA and DevOpsDelivery queue
A delivery queue is unfinished work that has reached a downstream delivery boundary but is waiting for capacity, approval, environment, or a release decision. It makes post-implementation accumulation visible.
Flow and capacity planningDelivery slice
Delivery slice is a way to organize, support, or evaluate software work so that teams can make useful progress with less avoidable friction. It is most valuable when connected to a concrete outcome and the local conditions of the team using it.
Developer productivityDelivery workflow definition
Delivery workflow definition is a release engineering and DevOps concept for controlling how software changes are prepared, introduced, or understood.
DORA and DevOpsDemand shaping
Demand shaping is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planningDemand-capacity ratio
A demand-capacity ratio compares a defined arrival rate or committed workload with the corresponding capacity or throughput of a delivery system. A ratio above one signals pressure under the stated assumptions, not a diagnosis by itself.
Flow and capacity planningDenoising autoencoding
Denoising autoencoding is a language-model concept about mechanism and information flow. It names a mechanism, representation, training practice, or operational behavior that can change how an AI system processes input and produces output.
LLM fundamentalsDenominator
Denominator defines the reference population for a rate or ratio.
Engineering analyticsDenominator drift
Denominator drift is a statistical or measurement concept used to describe, compare, or interpret engineering data. Its meaning depends on the unit of analysis, data-generating process, and question being asked.
Measurement and experimentationDenominator stability
Denominator stability is an analytical risk or quality concern that can make an engineering analysis appear more certain, comparable, or causal than it is.
Engineering analyticsDependency age
Dependency age is a software maintenance concern describing a condition that can make future changes, verification, operation, or ownership harder. Its practical importance depends on supported behavior, rate of change, and the consequences of delay.
Code quality and technical debtDependency constraint
Dependency constraint is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planningDependency contract
Dependency contract is a reliability concept used to describe a specific condition, control, or decision in the operation of software services.
Reliability and observabilityDependency cycle
A circular chain in which modules or packages depend on one another.
Code quality and technical debtDependency failure
Dependency failure is a reliability concept used to describe a specific condition, control, or decision in the operation of software services.
Reliability and observabilityDependency fan-in
The number of components that depend on a given component.
Code quality and technical debtDependency fan-out
The number of components that a given component directly depends on.
Code quality and technical debtDependency graph
A graph showing how software modules, packages, or services depend on one another.
Code quality and technical debtDependency graph density
A measure of how many dependency relationships exist relative to the possible relationships in a graph.
Code quality and technical debtDependency health
Dependency health is a reliability concept used to describe a specific condition, control, or decision in the operation of software services.
Reliability and observabilityDependency inversion
A design principle that places stable abstractions between high-level policy and volatile implementation details.
Code quality and technical debtDependency isolation
Dependency isolation is a reliability concept used to describe a specific condition, control, or decision in the operation of software services.
Reliability and observabilityDependency lead time
Dependency lead time is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planningDependency lockfile
Dependency lockfile is a release engineering and DevOps concept for controlling how software changes are prepared, introduced, or understood.
DORA and DevOpsDependency management
Dependency management is a software maintenance concern describing a condition that can make future changes, verification, operation, or ownership harder. Its practical importance depends on supported behavior, rate of change, and the consequences of delay.
Code quality and technical debtDependency map
Dependency map is a record of components that rely on one another and the behavior of those relationships.
Reliability and observabilityDependency mapping
Dependency mapping is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planningDependency pinning
Dependency pinning is a software maintenance concern describing a condition that can make future changes, verification, operation, or ownership harder. Its practical importance depends on supported behavior, rate of change, and the consequences of delay.
Code quality and technical debtDependency resolution time
Dependency resolution time is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planningDependency review
Dependency review is a practical concept in a pull-request workflow that shapes how people examine, discuss, own, or integrate a proposed change.
Code reviewDependency risk
Dependency risk is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planningDependency update
Dependency update is a software maintenance concern describing a condition that can make future changes, verification, operation, or ownership harder. Its practical importance depends on supported behavior, rate of change, and the consequences of delay.
Code quality and technical debtDependency update automation
Dependency update automation is a release engineering and DevOps concept for controlling how software changes are prepared, introduced, or understood.
DORA and DevOpsDependency vulnerability
Dependency vulnerability is a software maintenance concern describing a condition that can make future changes, verification, operation, or ownership harder. Its practical importance depends on supported behavior, rate of change, and the consequences of delay.
Code quality and technical debtDependency wait
Dependency wait is the elapsed period caused by a required input or action outside the item's current processing step. It is a specific form of queue or blocked time.
Flow and capacity planningDependent change
Dependent change is a practical concept in a pull-request workflow that shapes how people examine, discuss, own, or integrate a proposed change.
Code reviewDeployment automation
Deployment automation is a software delivery concept used to describe a specific event, interval, control, or operating condition in the path from source change to production behavior. A useful definition names the boundary, unit, and decision the measure supports.
DORA and DevOpsDeployment batch size
Deployment batch size is the amount of change included in a single production deployment. It can be measured through files, commits, pull requests, user stories, or another defined unit of change.
DORA and DevOpsDeployment contract
Deployment contract is a release engineering and DevOps concept for controlling how software changes are prepared, introduced, or understood.
DORA and DevOpsDeployment debt
Deployment debt is a software maintenance concern describing a condition that can make future changes, verification, operation, or ownership harder. Its practical importance depends on supported behavior, rate of change, and the consequences of delay.
Code quality and technical debtDeployment drift
Deployment drift is a release engineering and DevOps concept for controlling how software changes are prepared, introduced, or understood.
DORA and DevOpsDeployment duration
Deployment duration is a software delivery concept used to describe a specific event, interval, control, or operating condition in the path from source change to production behavior. A useful definition names the boundary, unit, and decision the measure supports.
DORA and DevOpsDeployment event
Deployment event is a software delivery concept used to describe a specific event, interval, control, or operating condition in the path from source change to production behavior. A useful definition names the boundary, unit, and decision the measure supports.
DORA and DevOpsDeployment freeze
Deployment freeze is a software delivery concept used to describe a specific event, interval, control, or operating condition in the path from source change to production behavior. A useful definition names the boundary, unit, and decision the measure supports.
DORA and DevOpsDeployment frequency
Deployment frequency describes how often a service or application is deployed to production. It can be expressed as deployments per period or as the time between deployments, using a consistent definition of a deployment.
DORA and DevOps