NEW for the Buzzword Lexicon:

• Level / leveled (v): To receive a de facto demotion through the addition of a new organizational layer above you. "Mike used to report to the CEO, then he got leveled. He's still a VP, but now he reports to Mary." Synonym:  "Layer / Layered."

Thanks to CB for the contribution.

HEARD TODAY and added to the Buzzword Lexicon:

• Syndicate (v): To review or confirm with another party, typically with the goal of eliciting agreement and support. "Before we take this to the Board, let's syndicate it with each member of the Audit Committee one-on-one."

Interestingly, this definition of "syndicate" serves equally well as the definition for another popular buzzword, "Socialize." I take this as proof of buzzword evolution. See chart below.

• 1987 "Discuss"
• 1997 "Discuss"----->"Socialize"
• 2007 "Socialize"----->"Syndicate"

My prediction:

• 2017 "Syndicate"----->"Discuss"

One can only hope.

Dilbert Buzzwords

Today's Dilbert, for those who have enjoyed and contributed to The Buzzword Lexicon:

"Envelope"

New for the Buzzword Lexicon:

• Envelope (v): To combine or bundle, usually regarding arguments or claims rather than material. "We should envelope our widget production capabilities with some references about our cost management when we present to McDoulgal Corp."

Buzzword submissions are welcome. Send them to alan dot l dot nelson at gmail dot com.

"Upscale"

New for the Buzzword Lexicon:

• Upscale (v):  To increase in scale or scope. "That site was just a hobby until he upscaled the thing. Now it's a full-blown business."

Help upscale the Buzzword Lexicon. Email submissions to alan dot l dot nelson at gmail dot com.

"Heavy-Up"

New for the Buzzword Lexicon:

• Heavy-Up (v): To make more substantive, usually by adding content. "We need to heavy-up the McFloogal proposal. Let's add two more ROI runs to the presentation."

Thanks to Frenchie for the contribution. Think you can heavy-up the Lexicon with a contribution of your own? Email me at alan dot l dot neslon [at] gmail dot com.

New Buzzwords: "Spin Up," "Ideation"

FRIEND AND MASTER SPEECHWRITER DOUG CODY EMAILS:

Heard a new one yesterday - appropriately enough from a CIO...

"Let's get back together in a few days and 'spin up' again."

Another one I heard from a Booz-Allen rep long ago:

"And then we'll go through an 'ideation' process..."  (Even worse, I looked it up and it IS a real word - a noun, however.) I submit that even real words can become buzzwords in the hands of consultants!

Excellent buzzwords, both. Let's add them to the lexicon.

• Spin Up (v): To continue work after a brief pause. "After your vacation let's get together and spin up on the McFloogal contract."

• Ideation (v): A process for generating ideas; brainstorming. "Get the whole team together so we can do some ideation on the McFloogal contract."

If, after you spin up to real work an ideation process suggests contributions to the Buzzword Lexicon, I'd be happy to have them. Email your contribution to alan dot l dot nelson at gmail dot com.

* This is a scheduled post written earlier.

 

"On Brief"

NEW FOR THE BUZZWORD LEXICON:

• On-brief (adv): Refers to information gathered during a prior informative discussion. "What we clearly heard on-brief is that McFloogal Corp. absolutely must maximize its web-enabled synergies."

Have a suggestion for the Buzzword Lexicon? Email it to alan dot l dot nelson at gmail dot com.

Buzzword Lexicon: Architechting

NEW FOR THE BUZZWORD LEXICON:

• Architechting (v): To design something. "Who's architechting the new benefits package?"

Have a suggestion for the Buzzword Lexicon? Architect an email and send it to alan dot l dot nelson at gmail dot com.

Tags: buzzwords

"Sunset"

NEW FOR THE BUZZWORD LEXICON [1]:

• Sunset (v): To retire something from use. "Do you think it's time to sunset that set of messages about strategy?" Yet another example of making bad verbs from otherwise fine nouns.

And my apologies for infrequent posting this week. I was in the middle of an Atlanta - Chicago - Minneapolis trip, and quite busy. But just busy -- I'm not going to sunset Seat 1A anytime soon ...

1. Have a suggestion for the Buzzword Lexicon? Email me at alan dot l dot nelson at gmail dot com.

"Tracking"

COLLEAGUE AND FRIEND Carolynne Bernard forwards this addition to the Buzzword Lexicon:

• Tracking (v): To understand someone's point. "I'm tracking you on why we need to revise the McDougal proposal."

Have a submission for the Lexicon? Forward it to alan [dot] l [dot] nelson [at] gmail [dot] com ... if you're tracking me.

Bullshit Bingo

LAST WEEK MY FATHER handed me a sheet of paper and said "now you'll never be bored in meetings again." The header read "Bullshit Bingo," and on the pages were these instructions and the following matrix:

Do you keep falling asleep in meetings and seminars? What about those long and boring conference calls? Bullshit Bingo is a way to change all of that! Check off each block when you hear these words during a meeting, seminar, or phone call. When you get five blocks      horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, stand up and shout BULLSHIT!!

We both had a good laugh, and I immediately thought of posting the card here as part of the Buzzword Lexicon. But in searching online, I found not only the card but an entire website devoted to Bullshit Bingo, one where you may print the cards and play hard-copy, or play interactively by clicking the squares with your mouse (those of you with wi-fi in the office now know how to spend your next meeting).

Each time you refresh the page the words in the squares refresh, so no two games are the same. The site also has several varieties of bingo ...

• Bullshit Bingo
• Buzzword Bingo (my favorite)
• Design Bingo
• Education Bingo
• Marketing Bingo
• Software Bingo
• Transaction Legalese Bingo

... so pick the card best suited to your next interminable meeting.

Isn't the Web an amazing thing?

"Stress test"

NEW FOR THE BUZZWORD LEXICON:

• Stress test (v): To test an assumption or approach with others. "We should stress test the approach with the Finance committee." "Stress test" is an interesting departure from "verbification": the trend in business parlance to create nouns from verbs. In "Stress test" we make a verb from a noun.

More entries to come, at least unless readership's stress test of the Buzzword Lexicon dissuades me from doing so.

"Status"

NEW IN THE BUZZWORD LEXICON [1]:

• Status (v): To provide an update. "I will status you tomorrow on the Mcdougal contract." Yet another example of the increasing trend in "verbification," making verbs from nouns (see Frame).

I have some other lexicon entries to post; I'll status you on them in the next few days.

1. Have a buzzword you'd like to add to the lexicon?  Email submissions to alan [at] comcast [dot] net (and be sure to frame them so I understand their use).

New For The Buzzword Lexicon

READER DAVID O'NEAL sends this submission to the buzzword lexicon:

Marketing VP, "I have to tee up XYZ project to the Sr VP by COB today. We have to frame it for him so he'll know how to deliver it to the EVP. Have it buttoned down for my review by noon. Make sure you couch it so it's an easy read; I don't want this to be train wreck. I'm not going to get shot on this one."

It's a wonderful example of many of the trite metaphors we're using in business today, with several great buzzwords (I think of buzzwords as faddish business jargon with a brief shelf-life, most often used by consultants). Definitions below, and thanks, David.

• Tee Up (v): To raise and contextualize an issue for consideration. Often happens before passing the lead of the conversation to another person. "Who's going to tee up the benefits conversation?"
  

• Frame (v): To set the context for an issue or conversation. "Let me frame the benefits discussion for you." Frame is a classic example of a Grand Principle of buzzword creation: making verbs from nouns.

Have a buzzword you'd like to tee up for the lexicon?  Email submissions to alan [at] comcast [dot] net (and be sure to frame them so I understand their use).

NEW IN THE BUZZWORD LEXICON:

• Upskilling (v): To improve an employee's skills, usually through training or direct experience. "We should be upskilling our project managers with training in the new Oracle suite."

Of course, only hi-pos are eligible for upskilling, but that's a story for a different pull up.

LIFE AT BIGCO:

At BigCo, we believe we know how to morph seamlessly.  We will visualize the commonly-accepted term "innovative". The customized infinitely reconfigurable, web-enabled, backward-compatible efficient R&D factor is virally-distributed. What does the industry jargon "TQC" really mean? A company that can visualize elegantly will (eventually) be able to matrix correctly. If you enhance holisticly, you may have to monetize dynamicly. The ultra-structuring factor can be summed up in one word: C2C2B. It seems marvelous, but it's realistic! Imagine a combination of HTTP and HTTP. We think that most B2C entry pages use far too much XForms, and not enough IIS. A company that can optimize fiercely will (at some undefined point of time) be able to deliver fiercely.

Source: The Corporate Gibberish Generator (courtesy David Weinberger). Try it yourself!

A BUSY WEEK FOR THE BUZZWORD LEXICON:

• Ping (V): To contact someone. "She pinged me about the benefits program. I haven't called her back yet."
• Sametiming (v): To instant message a colleague using IBM's in-house IM tool, Sametime. Used primarily among IBM consultants, but also among a large group of Lotus users. "Hold on ... Bob's Sametiming me right now."

If it were me, I'd be careful about pinging too many people too frequently--they might all start sametiming you at once.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT--some new additions to The Buzzword Lexicon:

• Webify (v): To make move an existing, non-web-based process to a web-based platform. "Hey! Let's webify benefits enrollment!"
• Onboarding (n): Employee orientation. "Have we added the benefits enrollment process to the onboarding?"
• Dollarize (v): To estimate costs. "Has anybody bothered to dollarize the new benefits plan?"
• Leaning out (v): An instant classic -- "leaning out" is to terminate employees. "Did you hear about marketing? They're leaning out 50 people."
• Vague up (v): To make something more ambiguous (and a verb for corporate scoundrels). "I like the report to the Board, but can you vague up the section on the new benefits plan?"

Personally, I think it's a great idea to webify benefits enrollment, providing we can dollarize the process and build the training into onboarding. Heck, if it all goes well we can lean out HR by 10, even 15 percent ... then we won't have to vague up our G&A in the quarterly review with senior management.

ONE OF THE THINGS I CAN'T STAND ABOUT SOME CONSULTANTS is their incessant use of buzzwords. As a student of communication I think words like "leverage" and "synergy" are empty and trite; as a student of business I think they're laden with status and are a veneer for thinking that could be more simple and clear. So a little while ago I started keeping a list of buzzwords, jotting down new examples of business puffery as I heard them. I thought they might make a nice category here on Seat 1A; here's the list so far:

• Plus Up (v): With the best intentions to make more substantive; more often to make more appealing by adding window-dressing or stylistic trappings. "We need to plus-up the section on the benefits package."
• Strawmanning (v): To engage in the development of an initial design of a concept for consideration by another party. "Where's Bob?" "He's strawmanning the benefits approach so we can take it to a meeting with VP of Marketing Mike tomorrow."
• Let me give you my left hand-column: To give someone a candid aside of their observations. "Thanks for describing the benefits approach. Let me give you my left-hand column: Great idea, but I don't know how we'll ever sell it to CEO Tammy."
• High-po (adj): A mid-level manager with lots of leadership potential. "Yeah, let's get Sue on the benefits project. She's high-po and it would be a great experience for her."
• Pull-Up (v): To have a meeting. "We should have a pull-up and discuss this benefits approach before it goes any further."

After reading these examples, let me give you my left-hand column: If the high-pos running that benefits project want it to go anywhere, they better get out of the strawmanning mode, pull-up with the critical parties, and plus-up the business case pronto. But that's just me.