MACHified your jargon yet?
We get it. With MACH comes a lot of those. Here are the words we will be using to play Bingo at our event at Shoptalk Vegas(26-28 March).
Play Buzzword Bingo with us at our event or online. Find below the words and what they mean.
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| "We are not a platform" | "We are not a platform": A statement indicating that a company or product is not intended to be used as a platform for building other applications or services. |
| "We don't do that" | "We don't do that": A statement often used in the MACH world where products are 'Micro services'. |
| Adaptability | Adaptability: One of the key reasons to go MACH; referring to the desired ability of businesses to let their software systems quickly respond to (sudden) changing customer needs and trends. |
| Ambassador | Ambassador: is an advanced MACH expert who happily shares insights to his or her MACH journey for others to learn from. |
| API first | API first: the A in MACH and a software build default all MACH vendor apply. The API is prioritized in the build, ensuring that all of its functionality is API connectable and the API's are considered the primary interface for a software system. |
| APIs | APIs: Stands for Application Programming Interface and it is a set of protocols, routines, and tools for building software applications, allowing different systems to communicate with each other. The A in MACH is for API-first. |
| Architecture | Architecture: refers to the overall design and structure of a system or application, including its components, interfaces, and interactions. When the MACH community talks architecture, they mean to talk about how the system is put together. |
| Best of Breed | Best of Breed: refers selecting and integrating the best possible components or solutions from different vendors or sources to create a superior overall system or solution. To not get stuck with middle-of the road solutions is why companies and smart leaders go composable or MACH. |
| ChatGPT | ChatGPT: Refers to the large language model created by OpenAI, capable of generating natural language responses to a wide range of questions and prompts. |
| Cloud-native SaaS | Cloud-native SaaS: This is the C in MACH. It stands for Software as a Service that is designed and built for the cloud environment and takes advantage of cloud services such as containerization, micro services, and auto-scaling. |
| Commodity | Commodity: Refers to something that is widely available and has a low cost, such as hardware or software components that can be used to build larger systems. |
| Community | Community: MACH is a global community of passionate people who share the common interest of being adaptable, who share best practises on how to do that and like to explain to everyone else why and how to leave legacy tech setups. |
| Composable | Composable: A software design approach where components of an application can be assembled and reused in different ways to create new applications and digital experiences. MACH is composable by default. |
| Decoupled front-end | Decoupled front-end: refers to the separated the front-end presentation layer from the back-end application logic, in MACH. This allows for greater flexibility and scalability in web development. |
| Digital experience | Digital experience: The key driver for companies to go best-of-breed, and MACH; the aim is to optimize the experience of a user interacting with their digital product or service. |
| DXC | DXC: Stands for Digital Experience Composition, a software platform that enables businesses to create and manage digital experiences across multiple channels and touchpoints. |
| Eventing | Eventing: A programming paradigm where events trigger actions or processes in a system, often used in event-driven architectures. |
| FEaaS | FEaaS: Stands for Front-End as a Service, a cloud-based service that provides developers with pre-built front-end components and infrastructure to quickly build and deploy digital experiences. |
| Functions | Functions: Small units of code that can be executed independently, often used in serverless architectures. |
| Future-proof | Future-proof: A default charecteristic of MACH infrastructures - it refers to the ability of a software system to remain relevant and adaptable. Micro services are likely to maintain front-runners plus they are swappable. |
| GraphQL | GraphQL: A query language and runtime for APIs that allows clients to specify the data they need, reducing over-fetching and enabling more efficient API usage. |
| Head-agnostic | Head-agnostic: A nicer term for headless. It refers to a software design that is not tied to any particular front-end or user interface, enabling greater flexibility in delivering digital experiences. |
| Headless | Headless: The H in MACH. An architecture where the front-end of a website or application is decoupled from the back-end, giving developers more flexibility in designing and delivering digital experiences. |
| JAMstack | JAMstack: A web development architecture that uses client-side JavaScript, APIs, and prebuilt Markup to deliver fast, secure, and scalable web applications. |
| Legacy | Legacy: Refers to older (non-MACH, non-future-proof) software that is still in use but may be outdated and difficult to maintain and update. |
| MACH | MACH: Stands for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless. It is an architectural approach to building digital experiences that are flexible, scalable, and future-proof. |
| MACH Blueprint | MACH Blueprint: refers to a set of principles and best practices for designing and building modern, agile, composable, and headless software architectures. MACH stands for Micro services, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless. |
| MACH-washing | MACH-washing: Legacy trying to look good by using MACH and related terms to look flexible and modern while in reality they are slow, unchangeable and clunky. |
| Micro services | Micro services: The M in MACH. The software development technique that structures an application as a collection of small, independent services that can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently. This makes them swappable. |
| Modular | Modular: MACH is Modular - it refers to a design or architecture that is composed of separate components or modules that can be easily added, removed, or replaced without affecting the entire system. |
| Monolith | Monolith: The opposite of modular, composable and MACH. It refers to a software architecture where an entire application is built as a single, tightly-coupled system. |
| Multi-tenant | Multi-tenant: Refers to a software architecture where a single instance of the software runs on a server and serves multiple customers (or tenants) securely and separately. |
| Omnichannel | Omnichannel: refers to a multi-channel approach to customer engagement and communication that aims to provide a seamless and consistent experience across all channels (e.g. website, social media, mobile apps, in-store). |
| Opinionated | Opinionated: Refers to software that enforces a particular way of doing things, often with built-in best practices and conventions that developers must follow. In the MACH world, API's should not be opinionated- they should just connect. |
| Orchestration | Orchestration: refers to the automated coordination and management of multiple systems or services, typically in a distributed computing environment. |
| PBCs | PBCs: Stands for Page Building Components, visual drag-and-drop tools for building web pages without requiring extensive coding knowledge. |
| Platform | Platform: Refers to a software system or infrastructure that provides a foundation for building and deploying other software applications or services. |
| Portfolio | Portfolio: Refers to a collection of software products or services offered by a company or organization. |
| Proof of Concept | Proof of Concept: refers to a small-scale demonstration or prototype of a new product or idea to test its feasibility and potential value, something that MACH companies can get to rather quickly. |
| Scalability | Scalability: a basic charecteristic of MACH setups; it is the ability of a system to handle increased workload without compromising its performance or quality. |
| Strangler pattern | Strangler pattern: An approach to modernizing legacy applications by gradually replacing parts of the system with new, modern components and services. |
| Suite | Suite: Refers to a collection of software applications that are designed to work together as a unified solution, often with a common user interface and shared data. |
| Swappability | Swappability: A key charactaristic of MACH components. Refers to the ability to easily replace or substitute one component or service with another, without affecting the overall functionality of a software system. |
| Time to market | Time to market: Refers to the amount of time it takes for a product or service to be developed, tested, and released to the market. It is a key metric for businesses that want to stay competitive and responsive to market demands. With composable set ups, TtM for small yet crucial changes is FAST. |
| Unopinionated | Unopinionated: Refers to software or API's that does not enforce a particular way of doing things, allowing developers to make their own choices about how to use it. |
| User Experience | User Experience: Refers to the overall experience and satisfaction that users have when interacting with a digital product or service, including aspects such as ease of use, accessibility, and aesthetics. |
| Web3 | Web3: refers to the third generation of the World Wide Web, which is focused on decentralized, peer-to-peer networks and blockchain technology. |