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Domain Glossary Avoidance

When AI agents fail to establish or use a consistent vocabulary for domain-specific terms. Instead of creating and maintaining a shared understanding of domain language, the agent introduces terminology inconsistencies, misinterprets domain concepts, or uses general terms that lack domain precision.

How to Spot It

Look for these signs:

  • Inconsistent naming of domain concepts across messages
  • Using generic terms when domain-specific ones exist
  • Misinterpretation of domain-specific terminology
  • Failure to clarify ambiguous domain terms
  • Creating new terms instead of using established domain language
  • Avoiding explicit definition of key business concepts
  • Mixing technical and domain vocabularies inappropriately

Why It's Harmful

  • Creates confusion about core domain concepts
  • Produces code that doesn't reflect the business domain
  • Makes communication between technical and domain experts difficult
  • Results in inconsistent naming in the codebase
  • Reduces the value of domain-driven approaches
  • Makes requirements harder to trace to implementation
  • Creates technical debt through terminology drift

What to Do About It

When you see this happening:

  1. Say "Let's establish a clear glossary of domain terms for this project."
  2. Ask "What's the correct domain term for this concept in your business?"
  3. Suggest "Can we create a reference for domain terminology that we'll use consistently?"
  4. Clarify: "When you say X, does that correspond to concept Y in the domain model?"

To prevent it next time:

  1. Create domain glossary extraction tools that identify key terms
  2. Build terminology consistency checkers for conversations
  3. Implement domain term highlighting in documentation
  4. Develop domain-specific language validators for code
  5. Maintain persistent domain glossaries across sessions

Example

Human: "We need to implement the customer journey tracking."

AI: "I'll create a user flow tracking system with the following components..."

You: "Let's clarify our domain language first. In our business, we specifically use 'customer journey' to refer to the stages a customer goes through, from 'prospect' to 'lead' to 'opportunity' to 'client'. Could you revise your approach to use our established domain terminology?"

Benefits of Fixing This

  • Creates code that accurately reflects the business domain
  • Improves communication between technical and domain experts
  • Ensures consistent use of terminology across the codebase
  • Makes domain concepts explicit in the implementation
  • Facilitates better requirements tracing
  • Reduces confusion and misinterpretation
  • Supports effective domain-driven design