Xenodochial

Xenodochial describes something that is friendly to strangers. In IT, this has a more specific meaning of being intuitive or easy to understand.

Xenodochial is literally Greek for being "friendly to strangers." The has specific meaning in a few different areas in IT.

In the context of agile software development, a project manager (PM) manages team members, business managers, and external stakeholders on an ongoing basis basis. A xenodochial project management style implies that the PM can get along well with these diverse groups to keep the project on track.

In the context of user interface (UI) design, xenodochial essentially means user-friendly. UIs are accessed by users with diverse backgrounds, cultural norms and languages. A UI that is xendochial is intuitive and appealing to all different groups.

In the context of an OS, one with a command line interface (CLI) is generally less xenodochial than an OS with a graphical user interface (GUI). GUIs can (or should) be usable without any formal training. On the other hand, to manage an OS from the command line, the user needs to spending time learning the system.