"Could you please describe how an endeavor in application development progresses over time in a healthy way?" In 2010 Munich Re's application development department was asked this question. But as simple as the question may sound, it is as hard to answer. Even more so in a group of people with different views and experiences. One of the big challenges is the lack of a common language to allow the group to discuss, share and compare their ways of working. ESSENCE, an OMG standard finalized in June 2014, provides definitions and tools to overcome this challenge: it enables efficient discussions about a way of working, the identification of the essential elements that teams should share, the sharing of practices and processes, and the unambiguous documentation of defined ways of working. In this manner ESSENCE was successfully utilized at Munich Re to define a common way of working for all endeavors.