Defining Feature Vocabulary
Quick start
Collect or infer:
- •Feature name and scope
- •Core concepts that need naming
- •Existing terminology (if any) from product, engineering, or design
- •User research on mental models and natural language
- •Adjacent features with related terminology
Then produce output using TEMPLATES.md. Validate with RUBRIC.md.
Workflow
- •Inventory all concepts requiring terminology decisions.
- •Gather existing terms from all sources (code, design, support, user research).
- •Identify conflicts where different teams use different terms for the same concept.
- •Propose canonical terms following the naming principles.
- •Define each term with scope, usage context, and prohibited alternatives.
- •Validate against the conflict checklist.
- •Document rationale for non-obvious naming decisions.
- •Run the rubric check. Revise until it passes.
Degrees of freedom
- •Default: Low. Vocabulary must be precise and consistent.
- •Allowed variation: Documentation format may adapt to team preferences. Rationale depth may vary based on contentiousness of term.
Failure modes to avoid
- •Using different terms for the same concept across the feature
- •Using the same term for different concepts
- •Choosing terms that conflict with platform conventions
- •Ignoring user mental models in favor of internal terminology
- •Creating vocabulary without checking adjacent feature terminology
- •Defining terms without prohibited alternatives list
References
- •Templates: TEMPLATES.md
- •Rubric: RUBRIC.md
- •Examples: EXAMPLES.md
- •Naming principles: reference/vocabulary-naming-principles.md
- •Conflict patterns: reference/term-conflict-patterns.md