People in positions of responsibility and their use of phrases like "end of play", "streamlined oper

Where I work, people regularly type the message that they want to send to you in the subject box rather than the message box and follow it with EOM (end of message) so that we save 0.01 of a second not clicking into the e-mail.

That's efficiency people!
 
Housey said:
What do the people who criticise or have issues with 'business speak' think of internet and text speak? How many people criticising its use here would think nothing of using for the win, owned, my bad and other such language? My experience is the language isn't actually the problem, the issues tend to come from this perspective and be based on the 'British Disease' of sneering, sadly.

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I like clear, concise English that gets to the point personally, I hate buzz words too but I also hate text and internet speak as it's lazy language...even if I still find myself using both on occasions...
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I cringe at both when they are used to be honest!
 
I don't see how some of these are unnecessary. What would you use instead of 'leverage'? Surely leverage is quite succinct and easy to understand?
 
One of my colleagues has conference calls where there are only two people on the call. That irritates me.

Reaching out is annoying and sometimes just means called or emailed.

I have no problem at all with technical business language being used.
 
Housey said:
A somewhat simple interpretation. It is pervasive because it's common in corporate circles, more so when they are US institutions. Its use for effect may be a few people I don't disagree, but don't assume it's people simply trying to climb the ladder or be seen as a guru because it isn't, it's just an example of changing times and language.

I suggest you are less prone to recognising it because it's more pervasive than you think, Americanisms etc are changing our language, you tend to notice things more when they are not in your normal way of life, that was my point. I hear internet and geek speak (for want of a better word) all the time, not least from technical teams.

You also show my point as you seem think people use the language simply because they want to be seen as something they are not, which I don't agree with. A modern vocabulary is not something that climbs you up the corporate ladder or makes you a guru, you need to be good and those who don't seek the climb often find it easier to criticise and sneer, which was also my point. I say again, I hate the use of buzzwords, I appreciate and aspire to eloquence but I like words, nice English old fashioned words used appropriately.
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I don't think the only reason people use certain words is because they are trying to be something they're not but it's one of the main two (the other being mirroring people you are with all the time).

But an obvious example of the former is your middle-class white kid who starts talking with a Jamaican twang and only do it around their mates. I saw this all the time when I was a kid, they'd have one 'rude boy' voice for when they were on the streets then suddenly the'd be all polite and eloquent when around their family.
 
Look I really think we need to back to first principles, consider the true voice of customer and critical to quality variables and construct a value stream around that.
 
This speaks volumes about management talk for me:


'I'm a great believer in prevention is better than cure' has to be up there for me as one of the worst.
 
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I work in a lot of different businesses and 'business speak' is pervasive. I end up using it because I'm surrounded by it most days. I think that's the case for most people.

Phrases such as 'quick win' require no explanation and so are easy to use in most project environments.
 
skidmarks said:
'I'm a great believer in prevention is better than cure' has to be up there for me as one of the worst.
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But prevention is better than cure... Just look at smallpox.


I think business speak is fine by itself, and serves a purpose. The problem only comes when people use it incessantly, with little substance to back it up.
 
krooton said:
Then it is being used out of context.

Expectation: What, how and/or when someone is expecting something.
Managing: Controlling.

Managing expectations makes perfect sense. "Don't make them think they are getting getting more, in a better way, and earlier, than they actually are."
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Managing expectations in a business speak nearly always means the exact opposite of English though. The only time I've ever heard it used vaguely correctly was when I worked in tech support.

It's a favourite of weak project managers who have utterly failed to 'manage expectations' in the proper sense who then use it to demand that everyone on the project digs them out of the hole they're in.

There are a few business-speak phrases that aren't so bad, and used properly its one of them, but badly used its one of the worst.
 
I only know it in the right context; "Team X has just told us they are launching their new product in September, but we'll only be two sprints into the new API development by then so we need to manage their expectations. Better remind them of our roadmap and tell them when they will be getting the new functionality."
 
act smiley said:
Managing expectations in a business speak nearly always means the exact opposite of English though. The only time I've ever heard it used vaguely correctly was when I worked in tech support.

It's a favourite of weak project managers who have utterly failed to 'manage expectations' in the proper sense who then use it to demand that everyone on the project digs them out of the hole they're in.

There are a few business-speak phrases that aren't so bad, and used properly its one of them, but badly used its one of the worst.
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I've only ever heard it used in it's correct context.

eg:

"Remember our stakeholders are likely to want a "one size fits all" learning solution, that isn't going to be possible so we'll have to carefully manage their expectations throughout the project"
 
Managing expectations is common parlance and used in my experience appropriately. The customer has a set of expectations. If we are unable to match them then don't let them go on expecting them to be met, manage them in such a way that you reset them to be more appropriate. In simple terms control what they expect and communicate it clearly to prevent them being disappointed when it's too late to do anything about it.

I think too many people focus on the language used because of their own personal predisposition to the people using it and less because it is meaningful or appropriate...
 
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Housey said:
Managing expectations is common parlance and used in my experience appropriately. The customer has a set of expectations. If we are unable to match them then don't let them go on expecting them to be met, manage them in such a way that you reset them to be more appropriate. In simple terms control what they expect and communicate it clearly to prevent them being disappointed when it's too late to do anything about it.
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Yeah, gotta say 'managing expectations' makes a lot of sense in my job. When you're designing something you need to make sure the client's fully abreast of every stage of the project and that it was specced properly so they aren't disappointed or confused when they get the finished item. It's a key skill that senior designers and creative directors have to learn in order to make sure everything doesn't collapse around them.
 
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