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Naming

People are our top priority and our culture is built on inclusiveness, kindness, and respect. This is reflected in our company values and the behavior we expect from everyone.

Language plays a crucial role in fostering this culture and should be used in a way that supports these values, both in our code, documentation, and product naming.

  • The language used should be inclusive, kind, and respectful, avoiding any form of discriminatory or harmful language.
  • In terms of naming things, care and consideration should be taken when choosing words.
  • This includes being mindful of the meaning and connotations of terms, as well as how they may be understood by people from different cultural backgrounds or who do not speak English as their first language.
  • Just because something is the norm within the industry, it does not mean that it cannot be improved.
  • The use of clear, descriptive language is preferred over relying on jargon or metaphors.
  • Discussions on how we can continually improve are always encouraged.

Examples​

  • The terms "Master/Slave" were commonly used in the industry to describe technical operations and relationships, but due to problematic connotations, many have moved towards using more descriptive terms such as "Primary/Replica."
  • The 2011 Scrum Guide used the term "Backlog grooming," but due to the negative connotations of the word "grooming," it was replaced with "Backlog Refinement" in the 2013 guide.
  • The terms "Whitelist" and "Blacklist" have been commonly used, but the metaphor of white being good and black being bad is problematic and perpetuates historical social issues. A more inclusive alternative would be "Safe List" or "Block List."
  • Avoiding ableist language, such as "crazy," "dumb," "cripple," or "sanity-check," is important. Alternatives such as "baffling," "check for completeness and clarity," or similar can be used instead.
  • Avoiding violent language, such as "killer" or "will be shot," is important in a professional context.
  • Gender-neutral language should be used when describing user stories, avoiding the use of gendered pronouns and opting for gender-neutral alternatives or rephrasing the sentence altogether.
  • Industry norms can be challenged in order to work towards a broader goal of inclusiveness. For example, naming a function "get_allowed_hosts" instead of using an endpoint with the term "whitelist" from a third-party API.