Do you have a long-lasting relationship with business jargon
When you talk about the game-changing itinerary that gets you the ball rolling, do your coworkers often try to see the insides their eyelids?
Do you often talk about golden parachutes and knowledge acquisition?
My friend, you are deep in the cave of business buzzwords.
There is another world, one with rich language that actually makes sense. Although you might have to struggle through the jargon-filled world of business language, once you see the light of real communication, you will never want to return.
As an aside, it’s possible to emerge from the shadows and find other jargon prisoners. They’re used to business jargon. The bright spaces of normal communication won’t appeal to everyone.
Here are the five most important phrases to quit using in project management. Stat.
1. Let’s make the most of our resources
Why don’t you break this phrase down?
In other words, leveraging resources means making the most out of what you already have.
Isn’t it a lot easier?
Let’s change it. What project manager would say, “Let’s plan this thing as inefficiently as possible”?
None. If you feel that way, I recommend using your time to look for a new profession.
2. Nine women cannot have a baby within a month.
This is the essence of the phrase, “All the resources can’t account the impact on time.”
Although it may sound funny at first, you will find this phrase in project management almost everywhere.
Seriously.
It is now a common phrase in Huffington Post and TechCrunch as well as New York Magazine. I am quoting Warren Buffett who claims to have been the originator of this phrase. It’s not cute anymore; it’s not even funny.
This phrase can be used to isolate up half of your employees: women. This phrase implies that a woman’s job can be unifunctional. It is to have babies or to use their bodies for that purpose. The phrase is clear enough to convey the point, but it may not be without a few snarky glances from your female coworkers.
I believe in saying exactly what you mean. You can get rid of the metaphor and just say “We need more time; additional resources won’t help.”
3. We’re on a death march
Welcome to the world where self-fulfilling prophecy reigns.
If you say a project is on the verge of collapse, it means that it is doomed from the beginning. The project lacks the resources, manpower, stakeholder buy in, or the time to properly complete the task from the beginning.
The death march is a sign that your project is heading toward failure, and there’s nothing you can do or your team can to stop it.
First, project management jobs exist to prevent future failures. If you or your team start using the term “death march”, your project is not well planned or managed. Your team will not be motivated to accomplish their tasks if they aren’t inspired. The idea behind the death march is at best dubious.
The second meaning of the phrase is that you don’t have any control over the outcome of your project. You are walking towards disaster because your hands are tied. This isn’t the reality of a project, or you shouldn’t have started it. You are the project manager. It’s easy to see how it works.
The symbology of the “death march”, however, is not appropriate for the workplace.
4. Let’s think outside the box!
It is an irony that this phrase was included on the list.
Why?
It’s too common and unimaginative to use a phrase meaning “Let’s get imaginative!”
Consider the opposite of “let’s maximize our resources”.
No project manager would ever say, “Let’s just think about this project using standard concepts.”
“Thinking outside of the box” is a phrase that has been used widely in the corporate world. It’s time for a new phrase.
5. Why don’t you cir?
