# 🗣️ JARGON Notes * **Management speak** (also know as corporate or consulting speak) refers to the buzzwords and jargon used in the corporate world to make everyday tasks, problems, or ideas sound more sophisticated, strategic, or palatable. * **Military speak** refers to lingo and insider language used by service members and war fighters. * **Government speak** refers to specialized jargon, acronyms, and euphemisms used by politicians and civil servants when navigate bureaucracy. * **Tech speak** refers to specialized jargon, acronyms, and terminology used by software developers, engineers, and IT professionals ## Management **Boil the ocean**: trying to do too much at once; metaphor for taking on impossibly massive tasks **Deep dive**: explore a specific problem in depth TL;DR: too long; didn't read ## Government **Giving you time back**: A patronizing phrase used by meeting leaders to acknowledge that a meeting finished earlier than its scheduled end time. **Taking it offline**: Moving a contentious or off-topic issue out of a large meeting to be discussed separately with a smaller group. ## Military **Voluntold**: A supposedly voluntary task ## Tech **Tech debt**: shortcuts taken when coding that create "interest" in the form of future work to cleanup or do maintenance later **Dogfooding**: use your own product or software to internally test before releasing **Yak shaving**: metaphor for endless chain of small, nested tasks you must complete before you can do your original goal; goal gets sidetracked by prerequisites, which have prerequisites until you are doing something completely different **Rubber ducking**: find errors in code by explaining your code line by line out loud to an inanimate object (like a rubber duck forcing you to view your logic clearly. **Bandwidth**: personal availability or capacity to take on tasks **Stack**: technologies used in a project **Full-stack**: someone or thing that does both front end and back end ## Random **Helium hands**: someone who chronically volunteers for tasks or projects; can't say no; your hand seemingly floats into the air whenever someone asks for help Jargon consists of specialized buzzwords or technical terms used by a specific profession or group. Idions are figurative phrases where the combined words have a different meaning than their literal definitions. 5x5: everything good/optimal; loud and clear; military radio communications rated the quality of connection based on two numbers on a 1-5 scale; the first 5 was signal strength (loudness) and second S was signal clarity (how clear the words are) selling snake oil: means promoting a deceptive, fraudulent, or useless product stem to stern: idiom that means covering or examining something entirely, from one end to the other. Originating as a nautical term, the "stem" refers to the front (bow) of a ship, while the stern" is the rear, meaning the phrase literally describes the entire length of a vessel optics: public perception or appearance of situation rack and stack: in tech, it means physically mounting IT equipment (racking) and connecting and wiring so operational (stacking); in mgmt. slang it means forced distribution like evaluating things directly against each other; organizing/grouping thought fuel: content, ideas, experiences that spark creativity nightmare fuel: creepy or terrifying content that stays in your head battle test: something that is proven to be reliable, sturdy, effective usually through real life, high stress conditions; tried in true lift & shift: moving an application, workload, or team to a new environment-like migrating to the cloud-exactly as it is, without redesigning it Insider ball talk: discussions around minutiae or detailed inner workings of a system that are only interesting to, or appreciated by, experts, insiders, and aficionados evergreen: anything that is timeless, continually relevant, never goes out of style wordsmith: carefully crafting, revising, or polishing text to improve its clarity, tone, or impact. circle back: revisit a topic at a later time touch base: quick connection/check in with a colleague ping: send a brief message/notification to check on someone/thing operational friction: systes, policies, or clunky tools sake doing your job harder than it should be-is often sugarcoated or deflected by managers posture: stance or position on topic drink the koolaid: unyielding, blind belief in mission, person, or org. move the needle: to make significant, noticeable progress low hanging fruit: tasks that are easily achieved with mininal effort out of pocket: unreachable or unavailable dumpster fire: a chaotic sítuation fire drill: a last minute, often avoidable panic dressed up as a priority drinking from the firehose: overwhelming consumption of new information Kabuki Theater: derives from Japanese theater to describe a predictable, staged political drana. It refers to fake conflicts or debates where the outcome is already predetermined by both sides Red tape: Excessive, rigid, or redundant rules and administrative processes that slow down progress Blowback: unintended consequences, side-effects, or repercussions that result from an activity that has a negative effect on U.S. national security interests Burn Bag: a brown paper-bag used to dispose of classified material by, you guessed it, burning it. Honey Trap: spy slang for using men or women to seduce and entrapment others for the purpose of intelligence gathering; a tactic often practiced by the Soviet Union during the Cold War Sanitize: the deletion or revision of materials in a document or report to prevent the identification of sensitive information with schizophrenia, who believed that the CIA was stalking and harassing him Government employee slang is a mix of heavy acronyms, operational code, and bureaucratic terminology. Alphabet soup: describing dizzying amount of agencies and their acronyms Govies: government employees (or feds) Silos: Departments or teams that operate in isolation, rarely communicating or sharing information with one another. Above my paygrade: A phrase used to politely decline a task because it falls outside the scope of your responsibility. SME (Subject Matter Expert): The definitive go-to person for a very specific topic, process, or system Double tap: +1; agree; military speak for shooting a target twice in rapid succession to ensure it has been neutralized Footstomp: emphasize, highlight, or draw extra attention to a specific piece of information; old-school military and professional academies, where instructors would literally stomp their foot on the floor during a lecture to signal that the information they were saying would definitely be on the upcoming exam FUBAR - F\*cked up beyond all repair SNAFU- "Situation normal, all fucking up." "Standby to standby" - Wait, more often than not, you're going to be waiting a while. Mandatory Fun - An event required to attend, it's never actually fun. "Nut to Butt" - Standing very close together, usually in a single line, also called a "file." Good Idea fairy - Someone who always offers their opinions but ideas are usually bad. BLUF - Bottom Line Upfront Chest Candy - All the ribbons and awards on a service member's dress uniform. Blue Falcon - A nickname for a service member who f\*cks you over 0-Dark-30 (or 0-Dark-Thirty): Any time very, very early in the morning before the sun comes up. Paradigm shift: a paradigm is a whole way of understanding the world, and a paradigm shift is a dramatic transfiguration in that understanding. Comes from Thomas Kuhn's 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 30,000-foot view: consider the big picture of a situation or problem rather than getting hung up on the details (overview) alignment: a shared understanding of a goal or purpose and how to work toward it together (agreement) close the loop: wrap up a topic or process with a firm conclusion ideate: generate new ideas, usually through brainstorming pivot: strategically shift direction or focus in response to changes Put a pin in it - temporarily set aside a topic or decision Table this - postpone or set aside a topic or decision for a later date Synergy - combined effort that leads to better results than individual effort Scale - expand a team, product, service, or business Wheelhouse - area of expertise or skill Pick your brain: ask for your perspective Pressure test: to find exceptions or a rule, weak points to an argument, or something that was overlooked. Quick wins: something that is impactful and that doesn't take a lot of time or effort. Red tape: bureaucracy Reinvent the wheel: redo something from scratch rather than make use of other people's work Bureaucratese Blue ocean means a new market where there is little to no competition. (The ocean is blue because the sharks haven't been feasting). Red ocean means an existing market where there is a lot of competition. (The ocean is red because the sharks have been feasting.) Reverse engineer: examine someone else's work to try and figure out how they did it. "Runway: how much time you have left; before you run out of money, for example Scalable: to do more of something with far less time or energy than it takes to do something once. Shiny objects: attractive things that distract people Socialize: sharing an idea with others to get their endorsement before a big group decision is made Swim lane: whatever you are responsible for Take to the next level: improve Timebox: set a time limit for finishing something Throw under the bus: make someone look bad Traction: measurable progress towards a goal or acceptance among a group of people Triangulate: arrive at an estimate by piecing together a bunch of available data points Two cents: your opinion Unpack: explain in more detail Blocking and tackling: basic work needed to get something done Best practices: are ways of doing things that a company or industry has decided is the standard, best, correct, or most effective or efficient method Back-channeling: when people meet privately with others to either gather information or to obtain someone's support for a decision Buy-in: get someone's endorsement on something Critical path: means the essential steps that must be completed to finish a project Delta: difference De-risk: to take proactive steps to make the outcome of a decision more certain Executive summary: a bullet point list of the most important information, usually presented as a slide at the front of a long PowerPoint 'deck' First pass/quick pass: means the first draft of something / a quick skim of something Framework: put some structure around a bunch of information (e.g. by putting it into 'buckets' or themes) or to create a methodical way of making a decision (e.g. creating a framework for deciding what types of initiatives to pursue). High level": a very short version of whatever you want to explain HiPPO: "Highest Paid Person's Opinion" or "Highest Paid Person in the Office" Granular: specific Hypothesis: your guess as to what will happen given what you know about the situation In the loop: included in the conversation / made aware Level set: to go over a topic so that everyone in the group has the same understanding of what is going on Iterate: work on multiple versions of something until it is perfect Operationalize: process of taking a "fuzzy" idea and establishing concrete steps, rules, or metrics so it can actually be implemented Off the record: discuss something without the conversation being recorded or shared with others Black Hat / White Hat / Grey Hat: The ethical spectrum of hacking. Black Hats murky middle ground are malicious, White Hats are ethical/legal, and Grey Hats operate in the Script Kiddie: A derogatory term for an amateur or novice hacker who uses pre-written scripts and tools without understanding the underlying technology Threat Actor: The professional (and often corporate or state-sponsored) term for any individual or group behind a cyberattack Zero-Day: A newly discovered software vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor, leaving developers with "zero days" to create a patch. Social Engineering: The art of "hacking the human." Rather than breaking through firewall code, the attacker manipulates people into handing over passwords or access Dox / Doxing: Finding and publicly releasing someone's private identifying information (like their address or real name) online without their consent Phishing / Spear Phishing: Using fraudulent emails to hook victims into giving up info. Spear phishing is a highly targeted attack aimed at a specific individual or executive Honeypot: A decoy computer system or network set up intentionally to lure hackers and study their attack methods Air-Gapped: The gold standard of isolation. A secure computer or network that is physically disconnected from the internet and other unsecured networks Meatspace: A term used to describe the physical world (reality) as opposed to the digital world (cyberspace). If you aren't at your desk working on a computer, you're in meatspace Red team / blue team - Red Teams act as ethical hackers to simulate real-world attacks, Blue Teams act as the permanent defenders who protect and monitor systems, and Purple Teams bridge the gap by encouraging collaboration between the two. Brute Force: technique involving an exhaustive procedure that tries all possibilities, one-by-one Hardening: the process of identifying and fixing vulnerabilities on a system attack surface: refers to the total sum of all exposed entry points, weaknesses, or vulnerabilities that a hacker can exploit to break into a system or network 10x Engineer: A developer whose output and impact are theoretically worth that of ten average engineers combined. Stealth Mode: A period of time when a new startup operates entirely in secret to prevent competitors from stealing their concept before a patent or public launch. Acquihire: A portmanteau of "acquire" and "hire." It refers to a large company buying a small startup not for its product, but simply to absorb its talented engineering team. Unicorn: A privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion. Variations include a decacorn (over $10 billion) clanker (n): The go-to slur for AI and robots decel (n): Short for "decelerationist," used to describe someone who opposes rapid technological progress, particularly in AI first principles (n): The process of breaking things down to their most fundamental truths and reasoning up from there, instead of relying on assumptions, analogies forward-deployed engineer (n): A software engineer who is embedded with clients to adapt complex AI into usable tools -maxxing (suffix): Optimizing a certain behavior or trait; e.g., looksmaxxing, proteinmaxing, cloutmaxing. Also works when you're chillin' out and relaxin' all cool(opens in new tab). rizz (n): Short for "charisma." As in: "Can we find a single person with rizz in this entire town?" tiz/tism (n): Short for "autism." As in: "This guy's rizz is no match for his tiz." Limbic resonance refers to the exchange of energy between two people inside a loving and safe relationship. When these two people interact, their brains release specific neurochemicals located in the brain's limbic region. Humans are social creatures by nature, and without the activation of limbic resonance, we can feel less mentally stable Turkey Farm: An underperforming office, or an isolated department where incompetent or unwanted political appointees and career bureaucrats are "farmed out" to keep them out of harm's way Robust: A ubiquitous federal buzzword. In government, to "robust" something means to improve, strengthen, or over-explain a process, though employees often joke that the word is used in meetings simply to fill Actionable: Data, information, or feedback that can be immediately utilized to make a decision or solve a problem. Optics: How a policy, statement, or decision will be perceived by the public or political leadership. Deliverable: Any tangible or intangible good, study, or service produced as a result of a project. Stakeholder: Anyone with a vested interest in a project, policy, or outcome. Terminological inexactitude is a humorous euphemism or circumlocution for a lie or a falsehood (a lie) ability spectrum - as in "the lower end of the ability spectrum", or less able people drawdown - as in "commence drawdown" - how the military describe leaving Afghanistan "white glove" refers to an extreme standard of meticulous care, or premium highly attentive service. implies that a person, task, or business handles something with such precision and VIP treatment that not a single detail is overlooked Directionally correct: analysis is correct in its broad conclusions; but some of the details are incorrect. On the beach: between projects Peeling the onion: doing deeper analysis What's the so-what?: how is this useful? Campus Hire: hired directly from undergraduate or business schools, as opposed to "experienced hire" Capacity: Your available time and energy for additional tasks Buttoned-Up: indicate that a particular piece of work or analysis is comprehensive, accurate and capable of withstanding close scrutiny; Crisp: An adjective indicating that the referenced work or analysis is thorough and complete, perhaps by gastronomical allusion to food that is fully prepared; it is duly noted that crisp objects, while ostensibly finished, are also far more brittle and prone to shattering Deck: Your Powerpoint slides, sometimes referring to the master "deck" for the team Pain Point: a specific problem, frustration, or inconvenience experienced by an individual or group; financial? productivity? process? support? Back-of-the-Envelope: a calculation done quickly to provide a rough estimate of the value of something Value Proposition: value that makes a service or product attractive to customers; what truly differentiates you in the market White Labeling/Private Labeling: refers to a business model where a product or service is created by one company (the manufacturer or provider) but sold and rebranded by another company (the marketer) as their own; private label similar to a white label, but the product is typically manufactured exclusively for one specific retailer or brand based on their exact specifications The Weeds: the details, as opposed to the high-level context Elevator Pitch - a brief statement to cover the key selling points of an idea or project Takeaway - the key points intended for an audience to understand, for example, from a presentation Push Back - questioning someone when you think they aren't being realistic, manageable, or achievable Greenfield - a new and promising opportunity or project Hard Stop - the time at which someone is no longer available so needs to stop working or leave a meeting for another commitment Wordsmith: To make trivial or generally unnecessary edits to text that may only subtly change the meaning, if at all; incorrectly implies that one is a craftsman on the order of a blacksmith or goldsmith; sadly, "wordsmithing" rarely involves the deletion of jargon Sanity-check: Checking plausibility of a result Pre-read: send information to the attendees ahead of time so they know what to expect. Educated guess, guesstimate: Estimate based on experience and domain expertise "open the kimono" means divulge information or secrets; metaphor to describe complete transparency ## Justin-isms Phrases very unique to just me; sometimes a malapropism goober - a naive, ignorant, or foolish person; goofy, awkward, or clumsy. drink sand - desperate (or incredibly stupid) - people want water but if pushed hard thirsty people drink sand in the desert cause they are desperate; sometimes they drink sand cause they don't know the difference.