This artifact helps you avoid miscommunication by providing two essential resources:

• A central location to look for terms and abbreviations that are new to development team members
• Definitions of terms that are used in specific ways within the domain

Definitions for the glossary terms come from several sources, such as requirements documents, specifications, and discussions with stakeholders and domain experts.

Although listed as an output from and an input to tasks associated with the requirements discipline, this artifact can be updated at any time and by any role as new terms are identified. The terms defined should be used according to the recorded definitions in all project documentation so that all stakeholders can clearly see that terms are being used consistently.

One of the primary decisions when developing this artifact is whether to have all terms in a single glossary or to maintain terms in several glossaries, business terms artifacts, or models. If terms are defined in multiple places, you need to communicate all of those sources to the team and decide which take precedence.

It may be important, even in small projects, to reference and use existing broader glossaries, business terms artifacts, or data models, where they exist.

Industry- and organization-wide glossaries may be referenced, and compliance with such specific chosen standards may be required.