Showing results for Microspeak - The Old New Thing

Sep 29, 2009
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Microspeak: Net net

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

In finance, the net is the total after you have cancelled positive values against negative values. For example, if you took in $30 and paid out $20, then your net is $10. In Microspeak, this term has moved into project planning and has undergone redoubling, so it's not just net; it's net net. The doubling of the word was probably added to create a...

Non-ComputerMicrospeak
Sep 10, 2009
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Management-speak: Focus

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Management likes to use the word focus. They like it so much, that anything important is called a focus. That's an interesting scenario, one which we hope to address, but it's not our main focus. We're focusing on three features for this release. But how can you focus on more than one thing? The first citation implies that there's more than on...

OtherMicrospeak
Aug 18, 2009
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Microspeak: Action on

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

I have been fortunate to have been spared exposure to this particular corner of Microspeak, but others have not been so lucky. Have you actioned on this ask? It's not clear whether actioning on something means that you've started it or you've finished it. As a result, this is another case of using jargon to impede communication. The inventors...

Non-ComputerMicrospeak
Jul 21, 2009
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Proto-Microspeak: Coceptualize

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Many years ago, to see whether anybody was paying attention, a colleague and I slipped the made-up word "coceptualize" into a document. Nobody said a thing. Either nobody read that part of the document, or they did and thought it was a real word.

Non-ComputerMicrospeak
Jun 30, 2009
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Microspeak: The plan for the plan

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

I ran across an old document that contained a phrase I hadn't heard before: The Plan for the Plan for the XYZ Team Summary XYZ is at ZBB and we are now at a recall class only bug bar until RTM. The team has also started working on a plan for a plan to address the requests made from the XYZ Leadership Team several months ago. Details of the p...

Non-ComputerMicrospeak
Jun 16, 2009
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Management-speak: Upping the sats and stimulating the ecosystem

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Here's another sentence that's so loaded with buzzwords and buzzphrases I'm not sure what language it's written in. I just want to have creative control over how my audience can interact with me without resorting to complex hacking in a way that is easy to explain but ups our blogging audiences sats to a new level that may also stimulate a devel...

OtherMicrospeak
May 12, 2009
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Microspeak: T-shirt sizing

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Larry Osterman discussed the buzzword T-shirt sizing, which means "making extremely rough estimates in terms of a small number of predefined categories." The term comes from the traditional way T-shirt sizes are specified in the United States. Instead of having T-shirts in sizes 4, 5, 6 and so on, there are only a small number of sizes: Small, med...

OtherMicrospeak
Apr 14, 2009
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Microspeak: The plate

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

To have a lot on one's plate means to have a lot of tasks and responsibilities. We shouldn't give this task to Bob. He already has a lot on his plate. (Or: He already has a full plate.) At Microsoft, this common English language idiom is treated as a normal part of the language. The metaphorical plate has become a synonym for assigned tasks an...

OtherMicrospeak
Mar 4, 2009
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Microspeak: Year-over-year

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

In economics, the attributive adjective year-over-year means compared to the same time last year. Examples: "Year-over-year sales show a marked improvement." "Expenses continue to fall year over year." (The hyphens disappear when the adjective is used predicatively.) I have only one citation, but it appears that the term has broadened its meaning...

Non-ComputerMicrospeak
Feb 3, 2009
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Microspeak: Recommends (noun)

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

I have only one citation, but the usage is so egregious to me that one citation is all I need. I'm looking for XYZ recommends. My requirements are... Why write recommendations when you can shorten it to recommends and sound buzzwordier at the same time!

Non-ComputerMicrospeak