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Sam Jarman ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป
Sam Jarman ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป

Posted on • Originally published at samjarman.co.nz

 

Your Ultimate Guide to Corporate Jargon

In this somewhat satirical Junior Dev Diaries post, I want to cover office/tech/workplace jargon and terms. Most of these were completely new to me, and too often now I find myself using them fluently, and for that, I hate myself.

The Terms

Across It โ€“ This means understand it after looking at it for a while. Example โ€œOh, Iโ€™m not across that new work that Jane did on the project yetโ€.

Catch Up โ€“ Have a conversation. โ€œIโ€™d like to catch up next week to discuss the projectโ€

Check In โ€“ Have a conversation. โ€œIโ€™d like to check in next week to discuss the projectโ€

Touch Base โ€“ Have a conversation, but you want to be a creep about it. โ€œIโ€™d like to touch base next week to discuss the projectโ€

Push Back โ€“ You didnโ€™t get your way, sometimes with a reason. โ€œThey pushed back on that approach, they wanted us to find a cheaper wayโ€.

Challenge It/You โ€“ Tell you youโ€™re wrong, maybe with reasons. Usually for your own benefit or your arguments benefit (you may not have explained it right). โ€œI might just challenge you on that, what if we used a 3rd party solution instead?โ€

Scope โ€“ The work to do, and what you donโ€™t need to do. โ€œOh thatโ€™s out of scope.โ€

Deliverable โ€“ The things that are outputs of the work, such as code or a document.* โ€œCan you add the documentation to the project deliverables? Ta!โ€*

Value Add โ€“ The positive impact you add to the company or product. โ€œYeah, but whatโ€™s the value add here? I dont know if the new client will benefit from that!?โ€

Pair โ€“ Work together on something, because two people will make it go fasterโ€ฆright? โ€œIโ€™ll pair with you on that documentโ€.

Conscious Of โ€“ Stressing out about something, but a bit more calmly. Something might be bugging them and itโ€™s bugging them that itโ€™s not bugging you. โ€œIโ€™m conscious of the time left on the project and the remaining deliverables do be done. How can I help?โ€

Make a Case โ€“ Forming a coherent argument for something that isnโ€™t trivial. โ€œThat idea sounds great, Sam. Iโ€™ll get you to make a case for it at the next meeting.โ€

Go Live โ€“ When something is being released to the public. Nothing to do with a biological heartbeat. โ€œThe new health and safety legislation is going live next week โ€“ youโ€™ll see press about itโ€ฆโ€

Challenges โ€“ The stuff we need to figure out but weโ€™re trying to stay positive about it. โ€œBrad, Iโ€™m keen to hear about the challenges a two new team members will bring!โ€

Opportunities โ€“ False hope of benefits by the under-informed. โ€œIโ€™m really excited by the opportunities Artificial Intelligence will bring to our companyโ€

In This Space โ€“ Sentance sugar for โ€œhereโ€ that makes you sound so much smarter. Often combined with previous jargon. โ€œIโ€™m really excited about cryptocurrency. Thereโ€™s a lot of opportunity in this space.โ€

Fall out โ€“ Failing on a commitment but trying to get away with it. Somewhat of a โ€œbasket of deliverables metaphor I think? โ€œIโ€™m afraid that the video feature will probably fall out of this sprint.โ€

Descoping โ€“ Failing on a commitment but trying to get away with it. โ€œIโ€™m afraid that the video feature will probably be descoped for this task.โ€

So thatโ€™s a few terms to start learning and using around the office. You can mix and mash them too. Get creative. How many can you jam into a single phrase? Remember, the smarter you sound, the better you are. Think about it โ€“ If youโ€™re not both translating in and out of this corporate wankery โ€“ are you really working?

Better living everyone.

Thanks to my good friends in my life who I have a bit of a laugh about this with every now and then. They helped me form this most wonderful list. รขยยค

Top comments (6)

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Great post. ๐Ÿ˜„

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samjarman profile image
Sam Jarman ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป

Thanks Ben! Do you try read all of these? How do you get anything done!? Haha

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Oh, it ain't always easy. I also don't read all the stuff on the site but I read your stuff ๐Ÿ™‚

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samjarman profile image
Sam Jarman ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป

I really appreciate that Ben! You must be a busy guy :)

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Lorenzo Pasqualis

off-line, to indicate a conversation that should be continued in a different setting. "Let's take this off-line".

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samjarman profile image
Sam Jarman ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป

Another great one!

An Animated Guide to Node.js Event Loop

>> Check out this classic DEV post <<