Do you find corporate keywords or heavy jargon interfering with software transfer?

Question

Do you find that corporate keywords or heavy managerial jargon interfere with the exchange of software projects? for example using words like

• Integration
• Holistic
• Adversarial
• synergy
• and etc.

Would you rather see an initiative within the industry to put an end to jargon, for example, to help people communicate better and keep in touch with the project in plain English? Is that even a problem? What are your thoughts / jokes?

Answer 1

I really like buzzwords when they are used in moderation.

They became understandable for a practical reason: although concepts can be very complex and / or abstract, there is a consensus on meaning. Thus, with just one word, you can convey most of the information to a large group of people. I see this as a form of encapsulation of information. (Note the use of slightly outdated fashion word encapsulation?)

Of course, that’s why many people start abusing them: they convey the general concept (that’s why it’s great to do FizzBuzz), and avoid discussing dirty details (that’s why it won’t work), and since using the buzzword gives the impression that you deeply familiar with the subject, it can be used to silence others in the discussion.

Conclusion : Buzzwords is fine - if used correctly. If you want to improve communication in a team, train them using the right words.

Answer 2

I think that some kind of industry initiative will be impractical because the jargon is in the observer's field of vision.

I think that all you can do is make sure that you don’t use words, even when talking to people who do it. For example, use the word "people" when talking to a project manager who refers to you and your colleagues as "resources."

Answer 3

Using a technical language can help and impede the progress of the project team, depending on relevance.

First you need to point out that what is considered “too technical” depends solely on perspective . " Mainstreaming " is the same technical term as SSD, CORBA, and SOAP. Something that sounds like jargon to one person is actually a shortcut to conveying a complex concept to another.

Software development, as a rule, is a cross-domain activity, including, in addition to software knowledge, one or more technical user domains. This is a big mistake, suggesting that sales, marketing, management and banking (just to indicate several areas that are often incorrectly considered "non-technical") have not been developed and have not developed their own complex of knowledge in other dictionary technologies: sales technologies, marketing technology, management technology and banking technology.

And his project managers are responsible for facilitating productive communication between representatives of different technical areas. Some suggestions:

• Make a convenient text dictionary of the project, access to which can be accessed and updated by all participants.

• Ensure that the common denominator language is used for cross-domain documentation (i.e. functional specifications).

• Introduce domain-specific terms only when necessary, but then always give a brief explanation of the meaning (don't create it from scratch - use the wealth of online encyclopedias, linking where possible).

• Ensure that team members have a common understanding of key terms.

• Remember that what is considered “technical” depends entirely on the perspective, and you need to facilitate communication in all directions, and not just one way (which is often from software developers to business users).

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• Ultimately, the software should work in the field of users, and you must judge how much the user interface will rely on a particular domain language (this will be a compromise between ease - for learning and efficient use).

Answer 4

Technical jargon (ORM, TDD, etc.) makes one speech more accurate. On the other hand, corporate keywords (such as managerial jargon) are designed to express vague ideas when complete information is not available.

As such, managerial jargon serves its purpose quite well, in the sense that it allows managers to communicate effectively about the intricacies that they have very limited understanding. However, a good manager knows when to NOT use jargon, for example, when talking to developers or executives, both of whom hate bullshit.

Based on the foregoing, the movement (Anti-) Buzzword Movement should rather raise awareness about the proper use and application of managerial jargon, and also stimulate proper encapsulation of information only with the appropriate audience.

Answer 5

Personally, I think jargon should be used more. I see this happening more and more, and IT people just want to hide behind the technical elements of the world and act as if it is the responsibility of business people for what they say more depressingly.

I will be honest, to say more GEEK - this is not what business people can do, and you should not want it. Learn jargon. Become one with jargon. Own jargon. Then, the next time you discuss things, you will not go back.

Observe the conditions for doing business and apply them to the technical side of things ...

Answer 6

What happened to holistic or synergy? These are ordinary English words.

Answer 7

Each field has its own jargon, and this should tell us something - people like to have special words, phrases or assign special meanings to existing words that are relevant only to their own field. I suspect that if we go back to the pyramids, there will be a complete set of architectural and construction phrases that your average Egyptian simply would not understand. So banning jargon just doesn't work, creating frequently asked questions and a glossary usually do the trick.

By the way. This should be the case with pots and teapots. Someone outside IT thinks of phrases such as "... We will use ORM and then WCF will talk on HTTPS, drop some AJAX and some smart CSS on the client, and we laugh ..."

Answer 8

That's right. Since managers speak only in general, and we, as developers, want to understand the exact meaning. I personally fall asleep trying to read an abstract letter filled with words.

The worst is SOA. Neither scientists nor managers understand this, although they use it extensively.

Answer 9

I can not stand. One encapsulation of one person is another destruction of Orwell’s language. Buzwords appeal to the same people who love "decks" rather than scraps. In order to act as a representation of many possible things (for example, “use of resources” can mean that anything from using two-sided printing options for drawing up drawings for the army], there will inevitably be a blurring of meaning. If a senior lawyer in my company asked me to "use the resources and then run it on the flagpole to get the ducks in line," I would know that he had thrown Johnny Walker over for dinner.

Conversely, if I were to respond to a request from a senior memorandum partner with empirical catch phrases such as above, I would be fired on the spot for being an idiot - and rightly so. Too bad that the whole world of white-collar workers is not like that.

Grouchy Old Fashioned Gen X'r

Answer 10

I am fine with the keywords, if all the interested parties (see what I did there) are understood by the general meaning of each word / phrase.

Answer 11

In general, I believe that good words are used to encapsulate ideas and concepts. it simplifies communication between people who understand words. Nevertheless, I draw a line when people use a buzzword, when they will make a perfectly normal word. I know someone who will say that they were “on audio” when they mean phone calls or say “talk” instead of talking. It makes me want to hit them. Hard!