If you are into International IT projects, you may find this post useful; I selected the 100 most common terms used in projects of software development and system integration, and provided with the appropriate term used in some other languages I use at work.
I skipped obvious terms like “project” “scrum” or “sprint”. If, in a given language there is a local term, but the english term replaced it, I put the english variant first.
Check it out!
1/ Acceptance
Acceptance includes all the tests conducted to determine if the requirements of a specification are met. For example, UAT is part of this process.
- French: la recette, le recettage
- Spanish: las pruebas de validación
- Russian: приёмочное тестирование
- Polish: test akceptacyjny
2/ Accessibility
Ensuring a product is usable by people with a wide range of disabilities, including screen reader compatibility and color contrast considerations.
- French: l’accessibilité
- Spanish: la accesibilidad
- Russian: аccessibility дизайна
- Polish: dostępność interfejsa
3/ Agenda
Topic of a meeting defined in advance, so the meeting attendants can prepare themselves or decide if their presence is necessary.
- French: l’ordre du jour
- Spanish: el orden del día de la reunión
- Russian: адженда
- Polish: porządek obrad spotkania
4/ Array
Data structure consisting of a collection of elements, such as values or variables.
- French: un tableau
- Spanish: un arreglo, un array
- Russian: массив
- Polish: tablica
5/ Baseline
Planned project schedule and cost, against which the project progression is compared.
- French: la référence de base, la baseline
- Spanish: una línea base
- Russian: бейзлайн проекта
- Polish: baseline, referencja
6/ Budget
Amount of money allocated since the beginning phases of the project to cover the costs forecast.
- French: le budget
- Spanish: el presupuesto
- Russian: бюджет
- Polish: budżet
7/ Buffer
In planification; amount of time added to a task end before starting a new task, to allow for uncertainties.
- French: un tampon
- Spanish: una reserva de tiempo
- Russian: подушка времени
- Polish: bufor czasowy
8/ Branch
In Git, a distinct version or part of the code.
- French: une branche
- Spanish: una rama
- Russian: ветка
- Polish: gałąź
9/ Closing a project
A list of processes aiming to formally hand over the system and put it into the run stage.
- French: clôturer un projet
- Spanish: cerrar el proyecto
- Russian: закрытие проекта
- Polish: zamykanie projektu
10/ Cloud computing
IT services offered remotely from datacenters.
- French: le cloud
- Spanish: la nube
- Russian: сервис в облаке
- Polish: chmura
11/ Configuration Management
Management of the modifications of a product throughout the time.
- French: la gestion de configuration
- Spanish: la gestión de configuración
- Russian: управление конфигурацией
- Polish: zarządzanie konfiguracją
12/ Commissioning
The action of starting a hardware for the first time on a client’s premises.
- French: la mise en service
- Spanish: la puesta en servicio
- Russian: запуск оборудования
- Polish: oddanie do eksploatacji
13/ Component
Part of the final product, which is usually managed in a dedicated work package. For example, a payment gateway for a new website.
- French: un composant
- Spanish: un componente
- Russian: компонент
- Polish: komponent
14/ Constraint
Restriction or limitation placed on a project, such as a small budget.
- French: une contrainte
- Spanish: una restricción
- Russian: ограничение
- Polish: ograniczenie
15/ Console
User’s Interface of the IDE, where the programmer writes the code.
- French: la console
- Spanish: la consola
- Russian: консоль
- Polish: konsola
16/ Contractor
Company hired to deliver a service, for example implementing a new system
- French: un exécutant
- Spanish: un, una contratista
- Russian: подрядчик, исполнитель услуги
- Polish: wykonawca
17/ Critical path
Logical sequence of works forming the minimum time to achieve the project.
- French: le chemin critique
- Spanish: el camino crítico
- Russian: критический путь
- Polish: ścieżka krytyczna
18/ Cross-Functional Team
In Agile; a team of IT specialists having different complementary skills.
- French: une équipe multi-fonctionnelle
- Spanish: un equipo multifuncional
- Russian: мульти-функциональная команда
- Polish: zespoł międzyfunkcyjny
19/ Custom-made software
Software developed for the needs of a specific client.
- French: un logiciel spécifique
- Spanish: un software a medida
- Russian: кастом, программу, которую создали под спецификациями клиента
- Polish: custom, oprogramowanie na zamówienie
20/ Customer Journey Map (CJM)
Diagram showing each step how the user interacts with the system.
- French: la cartographie du parcours client
- Spanish: la mapa de trayecto del cliente
- Russian: карта пути клиента, CJM
- Polish: Customer Journey Map
21/ Database (DB)
Organized set of data, managed by a database management system (DBMS) such as MySQL.
- French: une base de données
- Spanish: una base de datos
- Russian: база данных (БД)
- Polish: baza danych
22/ Datacenter
Highly secured facility composed of networked computers, storage systems and computing infrastructure.
- French: un centre de données, un datacenter
- Spanish: un CPD (centro de procesamiento de datos)
- Russian: ЦОД (Центр Обработки Данных)
- Polish: centrum danych
23/ Decision maker (DM)
In stakeholder management, a person who is able to make a final decision.
- French: le décisionnaire
- Spanish: el decisor
- Russian: ЛПР (Лицо Принимающее Решение)
- Polish: decydent
24/ Definition of Done (DoD)
A clear and agreed-upon set of criteria that a work item or user story must meet to be considered complete.
- French: la définition du fini
- Spanish: la definición de hecho
- Russian: Definition of Done
- Polish: Definition of Done, definicja ukończenia
25/ Deliverables
The tangible results expected from a project.
- French: les livrables
- Spanish: los entregables
- Russian: результаты проекта
- Polish: rezultaty projektu
26/ Dependency
A condition for finishing or beginning a task in a project. For example, the task “order the bricks” makes a dependency on beginning the task “build the wall”.
- French: une dépendance
- Spanish: una dependencia
- Russian: зависимость между задачами проекта, дипенденси
- Polish: zależność w zadaniach projektu
27/ Deployment
Installing instances of a system throughout the company.
- French: le déploiement
- Spanish: el despliegue
- Russian: развертывание
- Polish: wdrażanie, deployment
28/ Design System
Collection of reusable components, guidelines, and standards that ensure consistency across a product or suite of products.
- French: le design system
- Spanish: el sistema de diseño
- Russian: дизайн система
- Polish: design system
29/ Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)
Organization’s plan to protect its IT systems and data from disasters and recover quickly to minimize downtime and losses.
- French: un plan de reprise d’activité (PRA)
- Spanish: DRP, un plan de recuperación ante desastres
- Russian: DRP, план восстановления после бедствия
- Polish: DRP, plan odzyskiwania po awarii
30/ Escalation
Reporting an issue to an upper level in the hierarchy, usually in order to unblock a conflict.
- French: le fait d’escalader un problème
- Spanish: el escalamiento
- Russian: эскалация (проблемы начальству)
- Polish: eskalacja
31/ Estimate to complete (ETC)
Estimate of the amount of money, time, and resources needed to complete a project.
French: le reste à faire (RAF)
- Spanish: la estimación hasta la conclusión (ETC), el trabajo restante
- Russian: ETC, ожидаемая оставшаяся стоимость завершения проекта
- Polish: ETC, oszacowanie do ukończenia
32/ Executing a project
After planning, stage when the project deliverables, Specialist Products, outputs, are being done.
- French: l’exécution du projet
- Spanish: la ejecución del proyecto
- Russian: исполнение проекта
- Polish: wykonywanie projektu
33/ Executive Committee
A project committee made of company top management stakeholders that may convene at specific milestones or for reaching decisions above the competences of the steering committee.
- French: le COMEX, le comité exécutif
- Spanish: el comité ejecutivo
- Russian: исполнительный комитет
- Polish: komitet wykonawczy
34/ Fast-tracking
Practice of concurrently completing tasks that would normally be completed sequentially.
- French: paralléliser l’exécution des tâche
- Spanish: el fast-tracking
- Russian: исполнение задач одновременно
- Polish: jednoczesne wykonywanie zadań, fast tracking
35/ Feasibility study
Analytical works done to determine if the project is doable from a technical, and sometimes also economical standpoint.
- French: l’étude de faisabilité
- Spanish: el estudio de factibilidad
- Russian: ТЭО (технико – экономическое обоснование проекта)
- Polish: studium wykonalności
36/ Feature
A service or function of the product that delivers business value and fulfils the customer’s needs.
- French: une fonctionnalité
- Spanish: una funcionalidad
- Russian: фича
- Polish: funkcja
37/ Fixed-price
Contract involving paying the contractor an agreed-upon price for a task.
- French: un contrat au forfait
- Spanish: un contrato a precio fijo
- Russian: фикс-прайс
- Polish: umowa z ceną stałą
38/ Float
The amount of time, or margin, a task can be delayed without delaying the other tasks.
- French: la marge
- Spanish: el margen de tiempo de una tarea
- Russian: маржа времени, запас времени
- Polish: margines czasu zadania
39/ Full-Time Equivalent (FTE )
Team member involved 100% of his / her working time with the company’s tasks, even if he / she works on several projects.
- French: un (e) employé (e) à temps plein
- Spanish: un (a) empleado (a) a tiempo completo.
- Russian: сотрудник, работающий полностью для компании
- Polish: etat, w pełnym wymiarze godzin
40/ Functional specifications
Specifications from the end-user standpoint.
- French: Le cahier des charges fonctionnel ( CDCF)
- Spanish: los requisitos funcionales
- Russian: функциональные спецификации
- Polish: specyfikacje funkcjonalne
41/ Gap analysis
Comparison of actual performance with potential or desired performance.
- French: une analyse des écarts
- Spanish: un análisis de brechas
- Russian: гэп аналисис
- Polish: analiza luk
42/ Information radiator
The place to display the burn-down charts, kanban boards
- French: un affichage mural
- Spanish: el radiador de información
- Russian: борда
- Polish: tablica informacyjna
43/ Initiating
The first stage of a project, destined to justify, or not, the need for endeavouring a project.
- French: le démarrage du projet
- Spanish: el inicio del proyecto
- Russian: начало проекта
- Polish: faza inicjacji projektu
44/ Input
An element or set of elements necessary for starting a task.
- French: un intrant, un input
- Spanish: la entrada
- Russian: инпут, входные данные
- Polish: element wejściowy
45/ Issue log
Daily-managed list of issues or incidents affecting the project.
- French: le journal des questions
- Spanish: el registro de cuestiones o problemas
- Russian: список проблем
- Polish: lista zagadnień
46/ Kick-of meeting
Get-together done usually at the end of the initiating stage to formally start a project.
- French: le kick-off, la réunion de lancement
- Spanish: el kick-off, la reunión de lanzamiento
- Russian: кик-офф, собрание для начала проекта
- Polish: kick off spotkanie
47/ Legacy
The set of current IT systems of a company, often creating constraints, dependencies and bottlenecks.
- French: un système hérité, un système obsolète
- Spanish: un legacy, un sistema heredado
- Russian: легаси, текущая система
- Polish: przestarzały system
48/ Lessons Learned
Experiences distilled from past activities that should be actively taken into account in future projects.
- French: le retour d’expérience (REX)
- Spanish: las lecciones aprendidas
- Russian: уроки
- Polish: wnioski wyciągnięte
49/ Library
Set of functions, objects or classes ready to use and possibly customize.
- French: une bibliothèque
- Spanish: una biblioteca
- Russian: библиотека
- Polish: biblioteka
50/ Loop
Sequence of instructions that is continually repeated until a certain condition is reached.
- French: une boucle
- Spanish: un bucle
- Russian: петля
- Polish: pętla
51/ Maintenance
Processes for maximising availability of IT operations.
- French: la maintenance
- Spanish: el mantenimiento
- Russian: поддержка
- Polish: utrzymanie
52/ Milestone
An agreed point in the project, usually used for reporting. For example; the UAT of the payment gateway is a milestone.
- French: un jalon
- Spanish: el hito
- Russian: майлстоун, контрольный пункт, веха
- Polish: kamień milowy, etap projektu
53/ Net present value (NPV)
Difference between the project’s cash value now and in the future. If the NPV is negative, doing the project will result in an useless endeavour.
- French: Valeur actuelle nette (VAN)
- Spanish: el valor actual neto (VAN)
- Russian: NVP, Чистая приведённая стоимость (ЧПС)
- Polish: NVP, Wartość bieżąca netto (WBN)
54/ North Star Metric (NSM)
Main criteria of success for a product.
- French: la métrique NSM
- Spanish: la métrica NSM
- Russian: метрика полярной звезды, NSM
- Polish: metryka NSM
55/ Offer
Proposition done by the contractor for executing IT services or products.
- French: la proposition
- Spanish: la propuesta
- Russian: ТКП (Торговое-Коммерческое Предложение)
- Polish: oferta
56/ Out-of-scope (OOS)
All features that are not included in the scope of a project but could potentially add value. We agree not to include them in order to avoid scope creep.
- French: le hors-périmètre
- Spanish: lo fuera del alcance
- Russian: исключено из спектра работ, вне скоупа (не формально)
- Polish: poza zakresem
57/ Payback period
Time necessary to regain the project costs from the project benefits.
- French: le DRCI (Délai de Récupération du Capital Investi)
- Spanish: el periodo de recuperación
- Russian: срок окупаемости
- Polish: okres zwrotu
58/ Procurement
Activity of gathering the equipment or resources needed for executing the project.
- French: les achats
- Spanish: el suministro, las compras
- Russian: снабжение, закупки для проекта
- Polish: zaopatrzenie
59/ Product Backlog Refinement (PBR)
Meeting aiming to clarify the work to be done, usually takes place before the Sprint planning meeting, but can also occur when needed.
- French: Le backlog refinement, le grooming
- Spanish: el refinamiento del backlog.
- Russian: груминг, рифайнмент
- Polish: Product Backlog Refinement
60/ Progress Report
A snapshot of project status, milestones achieved, and tasks in progress.
- French: rapport d’avancement
- Spanish: el reporte de progreso
- Russian: отчет о продвижении проекта, промежуточный отчет
- Polish: sprawozdanie z realizacji
61/ Project charter
Also referred to as the ‘project brief,’ it is a document prepared during the initiating stage that defines the project scope, grants authority to the project manager, and provides information at the corporate level.
- French: la charte du projet
- Spanish: la carta del proyecto
- Russian: чартер проекта, бриф проекта
- Polish: zarządzanie projektem
62/ Project governance
Rules and procedures put in place by the project stakeholders aiming to reach project objectives and keep the project aligned with the company’s strategy.
- French: la gouvernance du projet
- Spanish: la gobernanza del proyecto
- Russian: говерненс проекта, управление проектем
- Polish: zarządzanie projektem
63/ Project Owner support
Also, assistant to the contracting authority. A project management role at client’s side, understanding the project business needs, and working in partnership with the technical project manager.
- French: AMOA (Assistance à la Maîtrise d’Ouvrage), often seen in French
- Spanish: la asistencia de gestión de proyectos
- Russian: поддержка в управлении проекта
- Polish: wsparcie projektu
64/ Proof of Concept (PoC)
Study aiming to prove the feasibility of a deliverable, for example for a pre-sale or for a project go / no go milestone.
- French: une preuve de concept
- Spanish: la prueba de concepto
- Russian: proof of concept, проверка жизнеспособности концепта
- Polish: proof of concept
65/ Quality Assurance (QA)
Function aiming to prevent defects reaching the customer.
- French: le contrôle de la qualité (CQ)
- Spanish: el control calidad, las pruebas
- Russian: QA, тестирование
- Polish: QA, zapewnianie jakości
66/ Quote
Commercial proposal from a contractor, given for informative purposes and usually not legally binding.
- French: un devis, une proposition
- Spanish: un presupuesto
- Russian: смета
- Polish: wycena
67/ Release
Launch of the first, or successive software versions to the public.
- French: la release (d’une nouvelle version), la mise en production
- Spanish: el release, el lanzamiento (de la nueva versión)
- Russian: запуск, релиз
- Polish: wydanie nowej wersji
68/ Requirements
Needs and characteristics, including functional and technical, of the project product.
- French: les spécifications, les exigences
- Spanish: los requisitos
- Russian: требования
- Polish: wymagania
69/ Requirement gathering workshop
Series of meetings destined to gather as much as possible information about the requirements and the customer’s needs.
- French: un atelier spécifications client
- Spanish: un workshop para requisitos, un taller para requisitos
- Russian: воркшоп для сбора требований
- Polish: warsztat dla zbioru wymagań
70/ Resource Allocation
Determining which team member does which work package.
- French: l’assignation des ressources
- Spanish: la asignación de recursos
- Russian: назначение задач по ресурсам
- Polish: alokacja zasobów
71/ Resource leveling
Action of balancing workload between busy and available people
- French: le nivellement des ressources
- Spanish: la nivelación de recursos
- Russian: нивелирование ресурсов
- Polish: równoważenie zasobów, bilansowanie zasobów
72/ Resource capacity
The amount of time a team member can work per day, used for planning schedule
- French: la capacité en temps d’une ressource
- Spanish: la capacidad de los recursos
- Russian: капасити, доступность человека
- Polish: pojemność zasobów
73/ Responsive Design
A design approach ensuring a product works and looks good on various devices and screen sizes, from desktops to smartphones.
- French: le design responsif
- Spanish: un diseño responsivo
- Russian: респонсивный дизайн
- Polish: responsywny design
74/ Risk Assessment
Measuring the potential impact of a risk.
- French: l’évaluation des risques
- Spanish: la evaluación de riesgos
- Russian: оценка рисков
- Polish: ocena ryzyka
75/ Roadmap
High-level project plan, with milestones, destined for top-management.
- French: la feuille de route
- Spanish: la hoja de ruta
- Russian: роадмап
- Polish: mapa drogowa
76/ Return on Investment (ROI)
Basic profitability indicator; ROI rate = (Gain from Investment – Cost of Investment) / Cost of Investment.
- French: ROI, le retour sur investissement
- Spanish: el ROI, el retorno de la inversión
- Russian: ROI, окупаемость инвестиций
- Polish: ROI, zwrot z inwestycji
77/ Rollback
Action to cancel the last command in an SQL database.
- French: un rollback, un retour en arrière
- Spanish: un rollback, un comando de reversión
- Russian: рольбэк, откатка
- Polish: rollback, wycofanie zmian
78/ Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
Finding the origin of an issue, using methods such as ‘5 whys’ or Ishikawa diagram.
- French: analyse des causes profondes
- Spanish: el análisis de la causa raíz
- Russian: анализ корневых причин
- Polish: analiza przyczyn źródłowych
79/ Sandbagging
Communicating longer schedules and bigger costs to the client to lower expectations.
- French: communiquer les coûts maximum
- Spanish: sobreestimar los costos y el tiempo de ejecución
- Russian: подстраховаться по срокам и костам перед клиентом
- Polish: zwiększyć koszty i czas
80/ Sandbox
A testing environment usually separated from other systems.
- French: une sandbox
- Spanish: un entorno de espacio aislado, un entorno de pruebas
- Russian: песочница
- Polish: środowisko piaskownicy
81/ Scope of work (SOW)
The total amount of work in a project. SOW can also be used for Statement of Work, which is a shorter document, usually used in contracts.
- French: le périmètre du projet
- Spanish: el alcance del proyecto
- Russian: скоуп проекта
- Polish: zakres prac
82/ Scope creep
Unplanned additional features added to the project scope, causing delays and higher costs.
- French: la dérive des objectifs
- Spanish: el desplazamiento del alcance
- Russian: скоуп крип, неконтролируемый рост объема проекта
- Polish: niekontrolowane rozszerzanie zakresu projektu
83/ Sponsor
A person, usually at the senior management level, responsible for the success of a project and for providing necessary guidance and resources to the project team
- French: le sponsor du projet
- Spanish: el patrocinador
- Russian: спонсор
- Polish: sponsor
84/ Stage
Depending on methodologies, the term “stage” can be interpreted in various ways. Most commonly, it is a subdivision of the project lifecycle, such as development, testing…
- French: une phase, une tranche (in hardware building)
- Spanish: una fase del proyecto
- Russian: фаза проекта, этап проекта
- Polish: etap projektu
85/ Staged environment
Testing environment aiming to be as close as possible to the production environment.
- French: l’environnement pré-prod
- Spanish: el entorno stage
- Russian: стейдж
- Polish: środowisko stage
86/ Stakeholders
All the people impacted by the project, such as the management and the users from the departments where the system will be implemented.
- French: les stakeholders, les parties prenantes
- Spanish: los interesados
- Russian: стейкхолдеры, люди вовлеченные в проекте
- Polish: interesariuszy
87/ Steering committee
A committee made of key project stakeholders, working as a team to make decisions regarding the normal execution of the project, especially during regular meetings.
- French: le COPIL (le Comité de pilotage)
- Spanish: el comité directivo
- Russian: управляющий комитет проекта
- Polish: komitet sterujący
88/ Technical debt
Accumulation over time of non-optimized technical decisions that lead to a weaker product.
- French: la dette technique
- Spanish: la deuda técnica
- Russian: техдолг
- Polish: dług techniczny
89/ Technical Project Manager
Working with the project owner support, translates the functional requirements into technical specifications.
- French: MOE (le Maître d’Œuvre), often used in French
- Spanish: el gerente técnico de proyectos
- Russian: технический проект менеджер
- Polish: techniczny menedżer projektu
90/ Technical specifications
Requirements for an IT system, on which the end-user has no expectations, for example from an integration or architecture standpoint.
- French: Cahier des charges technique (ou CDCT)
- Spanish: las especificaciones técnicas
- Russian: технические спецификации
- Polish: specyfikacje techniczne
91/ Technical support
The service that ensures the systems remain available, often referred to as the ongoing operation and stabilization of a system after its release.
- French: le support technique
- Spanish: el soporte tecnico
- Russian: тех-поддержка, саппорт
- Polish: wsparcie techniczne
92/ Times and Materials (T&M)
Contract involving paying the contractor per time spent on a task instead of per result.
- French: un contrat en régie
- Spanish: un acuerdo de tiempo y materiales
- Russian: times and materials, по времени
- Polish: umowa time & material
93/ Total cost of ownership (TCO)
Financial estimate to help determine the direct and indirect costs of a product in the long term.
- French: le TCO, le coût total de possession
- Spanish: el coste total de propiedad
- Russian: TCO, совокупная стоимость владения
- Polish: całkowity koszt posiadania
94/ User
Those who will use the software, but not necessarily those paying for or ordering it.
- French: un utilisateur
- Spanish: un usuario
- Russian: пользователь
- Polish: użytkownik
95/ User Interface (UI)
Point of human-computer interaction in a device, including display screens, keyboards, etc…
- French: l’UI, l’IU (Interface Utilisateur), IHM (Interface Homme-Machine)
- Spanish: la interfaz de usuario
- Russian: UI, интерфейс
- Polish: interfejs użytkownika
96/ Variable
Element in a line of code that may take on more than one value.
- French: une variable
- Spanish: una variable
- Russian: переменная
- Polish: zmienna
97/ Waterfall
Project life cycle, focusing on planning and successive stages.
- French: un projet en cycle en V, projet en cascade
- Spanish: un proyecto en cascada
- Russian: проект по водопаду
- Polish: projekt w kaskadowym modelu
98/ Wireframe
A simplified drawing, used for agreement on a screen UI
- French: une maquette fonctionnelle
- Spanish: un wireframe
- Russian: ваерфрейм
- Polish: wireframe, makieta
99/ Work-around
A quick fix to an issue, or its avoidance
- French: une solution de contournement
- Spanish: una solución alternativa
- Russian: ворк араунд, костыль
- Polish: rozwiązanie obejściowe
100/ Work in Progress (WIP)
Work being done, but not finished yet, thus bringing no value and using resources.
- French: le travail en-cours
- Spanish: el trabajo en progreso
- Russian: незавершенное производство (НЗП)
- Polish: praca w toku
101/ Workload
Quantity of work, expressed in man-hours, needed by team members for executing a task.
- French: la charge de travail
- Spanish: la carga de trabajo
- Russian: объем работы
- Polish: obciążenie pracą
102/ Work package
Group of tasks, usually given to one person responsible for it. Often used as “Epic” in Jira.
- French: le lot de travaux, une épique
- Spanish: el paquete de trabajos, una épica
- Russian: work package, подзадача проекта, эпик
- Polish: pakiet pracy
103/ Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Tree-like breakdown of all work packages of the project.
- French: la structure de découpage de projet WBS
- Spanish: la estructura de desglose de trabajo (EDT)
- Russian: структурная декомпозиция проекта
- Polish: struktura podziału pracy (SPP), WBS