Communication is important. But office terminology, or jargon, can make simple messages difficult to understand. Here is an office terminology cheat sheet.
Bubble Up
(verb)
To bubble up means to tell your boss what’s happening, but only if its important. Think of a kid in science class. This kid was trusted to do their experiment independently but called for their teacher’s attention when the mixture in their beaker uncontrollably bubbled up.
Cascade
(verb)
To cascade is to tell other people about the good news or bad news. This term can be further understood by thinking of a waterfall. The water, or information, starts at the top and then trickles down in stages to the pool below.
Deep Dive
(noun)
A deep dive is a detailed analysis. To do a deep dive is to look at everything under the surface and report on the overlooked details. To better understand the term, imagine diving deep into the ocean and recording all the important, but overlooked, secrets of the ocean’s floor.
Drill Down
(verb)
To drill down means to go into more detail. Drill down is similar to the term deep dive because both refer to breaking the surface and uncovering what’s below.
High-Level View
(noun)
A high-level view is a vague description. It is like taking in the view below from the top of a skyscraper, expansive but blurred at a distance.
Ping
(verb)
To ping is to contact. But it is somewhat unclear whether to ping means to contact by phone, email, or text. The term probably derives from the noise a device makes to notify its user of a new call or message.
Revert
(verb)
To revert is to return to a previous discussion, practice, or state. It is a term that can act as a promise for reply or follow-up action. This term can be understood through thinking about language. When someone hears their native language being spoken, they are likely to revert back to that tongue.
Sunset
(verb)
To sunset means to stop supporting, to cancel, or kill, most often in referral to a version, project, or service. This is similar to how each day ends with a sunset.
Thought Shower
(verb)
Thought shower is another term for brainstorm. Both terms mean to work collaboratively in order to solve problems and produce innovative ideas. These terms may have come to be because of the spontaneity of great ideas, just like how a massive storm can appear out of nowhere.
Touch Base
(verb)
To touch base can mean to check in on or follow-up with someone. It can also informally mean to make or renew a contract. This phrase derives from baseball. In baseball, a player must touch bases to score a run.
Whitespace
(noun)
Whitespace is the potential sales to existing clients. This term imitates the opportunity of a blank page or empty margins.
