Product operations terms and definition
This page contains lists of definitions related to products, features, and initiatives in the product directory.
Product
Delivers (or enables) a service to a user or a system
Iterates over time without a beginning or an end (unless the product is sunset)
Made up of a set of features
Has a heartbeat (and other steady state/evergreen metrics) to measure its health and value
Examples
Caregiver Benefit Application (10-10cg)
My VA
Resources
Feature
An interactive component of a product
Cannot deliver a service by itself
Example:
Upload legal documents (Caregiver Benefit Application)
Benefits and Debt Section (My VA)
Initiative/Workstream/Project
A team's attempt to iterate and improve an existing product (or to create a new one)
Has associated outcomes metric(s) derived from product KPIs that help assess initiative progress and success
A theme that aligns with a specific priority or strategy, or set of activities toward accomplishing a singular goal
It has a clear beginning and end
Examples:
Health Apartment
"MyVA 2.0"
Resources
Appendix
Background & Context
Our goal is to align OCTO product teams around a common set of terms for a product, feature, and initiative. This alignment has downstream implications, including what we prioritize and how we measure impact.
For more useful definitions, please check out VFS Product Directory Term Glossary (scrollhelp.site).
Help and feedback
Get help from the Platform Support Team in Slack.
Submit a feature idea to the Platform.