May 27, 2009 at 9:14 am
ian.lewis (5/27/2009)
As a former Microsoft employee...
Not fair! Inside information! I was speculating about the long pole being used to help with the really high jump.
But what was wrong with "critical path" or, if the meaning is too specific, "minimum timeline"?
(though I like the Boeing interpretation)
May 27, 2009 at 9:17 am
B-I-N-G-O
May 27, 2009 at 9:38 am
Adoption Blocker: Something that prevents a customer from buying a Microsoft product or service. Microsoft often assumes that everything they design and market should sell well. If it doesn’t sell well, then some “adoption blocker” has prevented the sales from taking place. Sometimes, I think Microsoft forgets that not everything they design and sell is necessarily what their customers really want.
While this word itself may not be used by all companies the idea or meaning of it is common based on my experience. It amazes me how often management denies the obvious when it is obviouse, that something produced is not of interest to the client or at least not of benefit to the client. At my former job in the tech field we weren't allowed to say or imply that something was a design flaw or bad for users because it soiunded negative. We didn't use the term "Adoption Blocker" but we were forced to view this the same way instead of being honest.
I believe this kind of approach by management, to deny the truth of something because a non-negative mentaility must be maintained at all times even to the exclusion of constructive criticism, is more often the not a large contributing factor to business failures.
Kindest Regards,
Just say No to Facebook!May 27, 2009 at 9:45 am
Another term to add to the list (may not be applicable to all scenarios or comapnies:
Undocumented Feature: Internally this is known as a bug but externally such as communictaions with clients/users, this is called an undocumented feature of the product. This way the software vendor can avoid admitting to a product bug or at least greatly minize how many bugs in the product it has to own up to.
Ever have a situation where a particual software product (one you pay for and therefore expect some level of dopcumentation/suppport) has lilmited or poorly constructed documentation done in a way that allow for open interpretation of how something should work/function? This occurs because it is a great way for a software vendor to limit their liability with the product. This is because its hard for a user to argue that something doesn't work when the intended design (how it is suppsoed to work) of the product is not clearly documented.
While this may be a dirty/cheap way to minimize liability it is an effective one. It also helps (greatly) bolster paid support and bring in additional monies to the vendor.
Kindest Regards,
Just say No to Facebook!May 27, 2009 at 9:57 am
The two at he top of my list are more Tech-speak than Micro-speak:
In IT we leverage something; the rest of the world uses something.
In IT we have knowledge transfer; the rest of the world has learning.
May 27, 2009 at 10:51 am
I believe "long pole" come from "long pole in the tent" referring to the center pole in a circus tent. The satire relates to the long pole being the pole that:
holds up the tent physically
vs.
holds up the project as a development roadblock or scheduling delay.
May 27, 2009 at 12:25 pm
ian.lewis (5/27/2009)
As a former Microsoft employee, I have to disagree with your definition of "long pole." In my group it was always understood to mean the item in the schedule that (usually by virtue of length) determined how long the entire schedule was going to take. Another word for "critical path."
Of all the Micro-speak I have run across, "long pole" has been the most difficult one for me to figure out, as it never really made much sense to me when and how it was used. Thanks for clearing this up for me.
Brad M. McGehee
DBA
May 27, 2009 at 12:56 pm
BDM = Business Decision Maker
noun - the one(s) who make the more business-oriented, strategic, higher-level (and higher dollar value) decisions in a company. They are less interested in the techno-talk and more interested in what is going to help them and their companies succeed in a competitive marketplace.
May 27, 2009 at 4:03 pm
In my organisation, no-one learns. They "acquire competencies", which is not the same as being able to do something.
May 27, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Carl Federl (5/27/2009)
What makes that buzzword extremely funny is that Utopia means "no where" :-D.
And that is exactly why I cringe at the word 🙂
Especially when it is your franchisor that it constantly bandying the word about...
we've started to use it for satirical purposes 😉
Or maybe I should say:
"Our Business Unit has elected to leverage the descriptor for reasons of humorous diversion from the project norm."
-d
May 27, 2009 at 6:26 pm
This one, fortunately, seems to be fading away, but if I ever hear another MS person say that their desktop products are designed for Information Workers[/b], I'll probably break down and cry.
May 28, 2009 at 2:38 am
Technology
This one word has conquered the marketing world, has been entrenched for years now, and in doing so has become absolutely meaningless!
Every product, architecture and marketing feature is now generally accepted as new technology. The IT business is no stranger to this implosion of meaning, making us all dumber in the process, courtesy of the marketing folks!
Hardware example:
Pentium technology (not even the architecture can be considered a new technology, it is just an implementation/manifestation of one)
Non IT example:
Pick your favorite shampoo commercial 😉
Software examples:
COM technology
ActiveX technology
.NET technology
Windows technology
(See a pattern here?)
And no it is not just Microsoft that is hooked on this one!
May 28, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Sometimes, because of the way they act, Microsoft becomes the adoption blocker itself. Many have gone to the OpenOffice suite because of Microsoft.
One that drives me crazy is "off-line" as in "Let's talk about that off-line."
It's used in the context of a meeting, a seminar, or a class when you ask a question and the speaker doesn't want to answer it immediately.
May 28, 2009 at 3:35 pm
A use of "Let's take that up offline" occurs in a meeting, seminar or class in which relatively few, usually two, participants are banging on about some obscure point that's of interest only to them, but taking up everyone's time. Take it offline, folks.
May 28, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Bandwidth, as in "do you have bandwidth to do that?"
Networks have bandwidth, people have time - or not, as the case may be.
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