Office Jargon

Yesterday I was in a meeting with one of the employees who works on my team. As he was describing something very technical, I kept hearing the term “bug jar” with regards to what he was going to do with a particular technical issue we need another group to work on. I couldn’t help my mind from wandering to the bugs in jars in Grissom’s office on the hit television show CSI.

It also made me stop and think about all of the other office lingo that has had its moment of fame at HP and offices all around the world. Here are some of the favorites over the years:

“boil the ocean” – describes something way too ambitious

“put a stake in the ground” – establish a foundation or starting point of where to start a discussion

“think outside the box” – think about things differently

“touch base” – get in touch (not so much an office term, but we use it obsessively!)

“ping me” – “touch base” with someone

“deep dive” – figure out what the heck is going on (in detail) in an area

“blue sky” – thinking in a high-level, abstract manner, not getting down to implementation details

“eat our own dog food” – use the products we created (rather than buying a different product from another company…seems obvious, but doesn’t always happen.)

“elephant (or gorilla) in the room” – the big issue that nobody is talking about

“put a line in the stand” – establish a limit beyond which things will be unacceptable

There are many more I am forgetting, please add more in the comments section.

Anyone on my team who reads this, you now know where my mind goes if you get too technical on me.