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OE-0002: Core Vocabulary
Status: Draft Depends on: OE-0001 (Foundation) Phase: The Bedrock Phase
Overview
Engineers already speak a conceptual language informally. Open Engineer is documenting its grammar.
Vocabulary. Relationships. Definitions. Processes. Observations.
This document defines the core vocabulary of the Open Engineer standard. These terms carry specific meaning within the context of the standard and must be used consistently across all specification documents, RFCs, and reference materials.
Terms
Bedrock
The immutable reality that underlies all engineering work. Reality remains fixed; understanding grows around it.
The Thread
The continuous line of engineering understanding that passes from one generation to the next. Knowledge is carried through continuity. Each generation holds the thread temporarily before passing it onward.
Engineering Context
The full set of information required to understand why an engineering decision was made, what alternatives were considered, and what constraints shaped the outcome.
Observation
A direct, verifiable encounter with reality. Observations are the primary input to the engineering process.
Spiral Re-evaluation
Accumulated understanding through repeated observation. Not iteration. Not repetition. Each pass returns to the same questions with deeper understanding.
Stewardship
The responsibility to maintain, preserve, and improve engineering knowledge for future inheritors. Stewardship replaces ownership as the operative relationship between an engineer and engineering knowledge.
Inheritance
The process by which engineering knowledge is received from prior work. Engineers inherit responsibilities as well as resources.
Translation
The process of converting an observation from any domain (philosophical, cultural, scientific, craft-based) into precise engineering language without adopting the surrounding ideology.
Verification
The act of testing understanding against reality. Understanding is provisional until verified.
Decision
An engineering choice made within a specific context, informed by observation and bounded by constraints.
Survey
A structured assessment of the current state of engineering understanding on a specific topic.
Evolution
The process by which the standard and its constituent documents grow and change over time, always building on bedrock.
Principle of Single Responsibility
Every document must have exactly one primary responsibility.
For example: OE-0004 (Observation) defines observation. It does not define verification. It references verification.
That is how standards remain readable.