Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. – Albert Einstein
Level of Development vs Level of Detail.
I get this question over and over again, asking me why it’s such a big deal to say Detail instead of Development. Well I think it’s time for a little education on the subject.
The Mad Cadder laid out a simple explanation to help define the use of LOD:
“LOD stands for both Level of Detail and Level of Development. How and where the acronym is used is dependant on the context of the discussion.
When talking about the graphical representation of an object, you are discussing the Level of Detail.
When discussing both the graphical representation and the information (properties) of the object, you are now talking about “Level of Development”.
– See more at: http://themadcadder.blogs.com/my_weblog/2013/03/lod-level-of-detail-or-level-of-development.html#sthash.UEi0pYF6.dpuf
When we are discussing the LOD for our BIM Project we tend to always refer to Level of Development. The BIM Forum Document “Level of Development Specification” http://bimforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/2013-LOD-Specification.pdf, helps define these different levels of Development in our models.
It is important to understand the LOD of your project; these Levels should be used in the BIM Execution Plan and the Information Exchange worksheet.
When the LOD is communicated to the project team, consultants and internal, time and energy is saved, which translates to your ROI.
BIMFreak 
Spot on! Level of detail is a phrase, not an acronym used to refer to a specific item. Level Of Development (also an acronym: LOD),as you stated, refers to the BIM model / project and to what level of accuracy items/elements are developed.