Staff augmentation glossary: 32 contract terms nobody defines (dedicated team, nearshore, managed squad)

Dedicated development team, staff augmentation, nearshore, software outsourcing, MSA, SOW, DoD, substitution SLA... 32 terms that show up in squad contracts and nobody defines, starting with the names the market uses for the model itself. The glossary Revin shares in every contract.

A managed-squad contract has 20+ acronyms and technical terms each vendor defines their own way. Client assumes one meaning, vendor another. Result: first-sprint fights about 'what should have been done' and 'how substitution works'. Almost no misalignment is technical — almost all are definitional.

The first misalignment comes before the contract, in the name of the model itself. What we call a managed squad, the market calls a dedicated development team, or staff augmentation with the management included. Same thing, different words, and the words decide whether a buyer ever finds the vendor. So this glossary opens with the market's vocabulary and only then goes into the contract.

Revin runs with a public glossary shared in every contract — not as a legal annex, but as a conversation baseline. When both sides use the same definitions from the first meeting, sprint one starts from the same place. This article is that glossary.

For founders, CTOs, and internal counsel about to negotiate a managed-squad contract — and who want to avoid interpretation surprises in review.

A shared glossary is what avoids 70% of misalignment at contract start

🧭 The market's names for the same thing (12 terms)

• Dedicated development team: the market's name for what we sell. Three to five senior engineers working only on your product, for months, paid monthly. At Revin it is called a managed squad; on Google it is searched as "dedicated development team". How the model works.
• Staff augmentation: adding external engineers to your own team, usually paid per person per month. A managed squad is staff augmentation with the management included: tech lead, rituals and reporting come with it, and the squad reports to your tech lead. Compare the models.
• Managed squad: Revin's term. A dedicated team where the vendor owns delivery quality (tech lead, rituals, substitution SLA) and the client owns the roadmap. Do not expect other vendors to use the word.
• Squad as a service (RaaS): capacity-based pricing applied to a managed squad. You buy N engineers × months, not a fixed scope. The market calls this a dedicated software development team on a monthly retainer.
• Nearshore software development: outsourcing to a country in a close timezone. Brazil is nearshore for the US (1 to 4 hours of difference) and workable for the UK (4 hours). Hiring nearshore developers means the standup happens inside your workday.
• Offshore development: outsourcing to a far timezone (India or Vietnam, for a US buyer). Cheaper per hour, expensive in coordination.
• Software outsourcing: the umbrella term for any of the above, including agencies and bodyshops. "Software development outsourcing companies" is what buyers search; the term says nothing about who manages delivery, which is exactly the clause to read.
• Agency, bodyshop: an agency ships projects with rotating people; a bodyshop rents CVs by the hour. Neither owns the delivery of your roadmap, and neither has a substitution SLA.
• Software development company: what buyers search when they want a vendor rather than freelancers. Revin is one; what separates companies is the engagement model, not the label.
• Custom software development (bespoke, in the UK): software built for one company instead of bought off the shelf. It is the project-based engagement: fixed scope, timeline and price. Fixed-scope projects.
• Legacy modernization: replacing or upgrading an old system without stopping the business. The alternative to a full rewrite, usually done with the strangler pattern below.
• Technical debt: the cost of past shortcuts, paid on every new feature. The market searches "technical debt", engineers say "tech debt", and the Diagnostic Sprint below exists to put a price on it.

📖 The 20 contract terms (with Revin definition)

• MSA (Master Service Agreement): umbrella contract between the parties, defines general legal terms. Multi-year validity.
• SOW (Statement of Work): annex to the MSA with scope, deadline, price, and deliverables specific to one project.
• DoR (Definition of Ready): criteria for a ticket entering a sprint. No DoR, ticket becomes surprise.
• DoD (Definition of Done): criteria for a ticket leaving a sprint. Has 4 levels (feature complete, quality complete, deploy complete, adoption complete).
• Substitution SLA: contractual deadline to replace a squad member who leaves. Revin: 5-14 days.
• Capacity-based pricing: price for dedicated capacity (N devs × months), not for hours worked.
• T&M (Time & Materials): price per hour spent. Traditional model, low velocity incentive.
• Outcome-based pricing: price per validated delivery (feature shipped + adoption). Shared-risk model.
• ADR (Architecture Decision Record): short document recording technical decision, alternatives, trade-offs. Becomes a living artifact.
• Embedded tech lead: vendor's senior leading architecture, code review, and technical prioritization inside the squad.
• Discovery: initial 1-2 weeks for the squad to understand product before touching code.
• Strangler pattern: gradual migration strategy where the new system coexists with the old until full replacement.
• Burndown: ticket-progress chart inside a sprint. Process metric, not outcome.
• Feature flag: mechanism to turn features on/off in production without new deploy. Prerequisite for safe continuous deployment.
• Bus factor: number of people who need to leave for the project to stall. Healthy: ≥ 2 per critical area.
• Handoff doc: standard document filled by a leaving dev, with context, decisions, and known debt.
• Definition of pronto: Portuguese informal synonym for DoD. Same concept.
• Forecast accuracy: % of sprints closed on the estimated date. Predictability metric.
• Rework rate: % of PRs reopened or reverted within 14 days. Direct quality metric.
• Diagnostic Sprint: Revin's 2-week offer to diagnose a current squad or scope a new project. Not binding — assessment.

When both sides use the same definition, sprint one starts from the same place

🚧 Why a shared glossary matters

In 4 years of operation, 70% of initial client conflicts started with different interpretation of contract terms. Client assumed 'T&M' meant 'we can ask anything in any timeline'; vendor assumed 'we'll charge for hours regardless of outcome'. Both were wrong — and the contract didn't correct them.

A public glossary fixes this in 30 minutes of reading. Revin sends this glossary to every prospect before the MSA — not as a legal annex, but as a conversation baseline.

📢 Want the glossary as a PDF (full version with 35 terms)? Book a Discovery Call.

🎯 Conclusion: a shared glossary is the contract before the contract

An MSA signed without a glossary is a surfboard without a wave. Each party uses terms their own way, and at sprint one the 'right interpretation' becomes a dispute. Senior squads open the term conversation on day 0; generic squads hide it until conflict.

📢 Revin runs with a public glossary since 2023. See our delivery model.