How Clearing Up Technical Terms Improves WordPress Projects for Teams and Clients

WordPress is evolving fast, and so are the technical terms used to describe its inner workings. As a result, it’s easy for terms to become outdated. Over time, this can lead to a divide between how developers communicate and what the rest of the team understands.

Even worse, clients may not always understand technical terms, either, which can lead to costly misunderstandings, ambiguous tickets, and mismatched expectations.

This post explores the importance of standardizing terms in WordPress projects and provides some tips on how to do so for your project. Let’s get into it.

Key Takeaways

• Miscommunication caused by differences in technical knowledge may lead to inefficiencies that slow projects down.
• You can start to resolve the issue with glossaries provided to all team members and clients, updated documentation, and training sessions for non-technical team members.

Miscommunication Slows Down Projects

In a recent project, we faced some challenges caused by inconsistent use of terms like “components” and “blocks.” This misalignment directly impacted ticket creation and content entry challenges.

• Ambiguous tickets. Some components were misunderstood as code reused in multiple blocks, leading to tickets with vague requirements, which developers had trouble understanding.
• Challenges during content entry. Content editors struggled when interacting with blocks in the editor or when editing templates in the Full Site Editor (FSE) feature, as terms didn’t match their expectations or documentation.

These issues slowed progress and introduced unnecessary friction between developers, content editors, and stakeholders.

Teams Must Keep Up With Terminology Changes

In recent years, WordPress has increasingly transitioned to block-based development with the introduction and development of FSE. This has introduced new terms like “block editor,” “patterns,” and “inserters.”

While the evolution of the terminology might not be a big deal for developers who are always in contact with and applying these terms into action, it wasn’t as apparent for the rest of the team.

Other team members may have used outdated terms like “templates” (PHP files), “modules” instead of blocks, and “flexible content” (ACF plugin terminology). While familiar, these terms didn’t align with modern WordPress practices or our current workflows.

Additionally, if these misunderstandings reach the client, it will eventually impact their satisfaction by creating misaligned expectations and a lack of confidence in their current understanding of the project.

How to Standardize Terminology in WordPress Projects?

To ensure everyone is aligned on terminology during our projects, we’ve been using the following strategies to great effect:

• Create a project glossary. Create a glossary and host it in a central location where all team members and clients can access it.
• Update documentation. Review project and internal documentation to ensure they all reflect the latest WordPress terminology.
• Review and refine tickets. Use standardized terms in tickets, making them clearer and more actionable for developers.
• Train team members. Perform team workshops or discussions to align on language and familiarize everyone with WordPress updates and how they change terminology.

Taking these steps will help both internal team members and clients understand the terminology, leading to fewer misunderstandings and more confidence and trust across all involved with the project.

What Are the Benefits of Helping Everyone Understand WordPress Terminology?

Ensuring that clients, developers, designers, and every other team member understand the key terminology associated with the projects has the following benefits:

• Better communication between everyone involved in the project.
• Less ambiguity in ticket descriptions, speeding up the solution and reducing misunderstandings.
• Smoother collaboration thanks to better communication and consistent documentation.
• Improved client satisfaction.

Strive for Clearer Terminology in WordPress Projects

Ensuring that all team members and clients are aligned on the meanings of important terminology streamlines the entire project, improves collaboration, and ultimately delivers better outcomes for all.

We encourage you to explore your current communication practices to see if your developers may be using outdated terms or struggling with miscommunication with non-technical team members and clients.

If you find some discrepancies, it may be worth it to create a shared glossary. You’d be surprised by how quickly non-technical members and clients can get the gist of the concepts!

If you found this post useful, read our blog and developer resources for more insights and guides!