May 17, 2026

Acronyms are everywhere in tech. As I have been putting together a blog series on my approach to being a manager in tech, it occurs to me that there are management-specific acronyms that have served me well over the years. Here are some of those terms that have helped me the most.

Three P (PPP, status): Progress, priorities, problems.
Four D (GTD): Do it, defer it, delegate it, drop it.
STAR (writing): Situation, task, action, results.*
SMART (goals): Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound.
Kanban (agile): Without the overhead of SCRUM.
PADIS (SDLC): Planning, analysis, design, implementation, support.
PIOP (documentation): Purpose, input, output, procedure.
Maslow (psychology): Physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, self-actualization.

* Ideally with starting number in situation, and ending number in results.