Words Matter - Fashion & Function

As engineers we're always focused on function and aren't really into fashion quite as much. Some of the contents of our wardrobes will attest to this! We regularly engage our customers at their own level to understand the requirements for our latest effort but the words they use to describe what they need will be just as much about the latest fashions as they will the functions.

Michael Rands, on his excellent blog Rands In Repose, makes this distinction particularly well in his latest post The Words You Wear.

In business, words are like fashion. You try a word on because important people around you are saying it and getting results, but you may not actually know what it means.

He goes on to list some of those fabulous words that are thrown liberally into our requirements gathering and provides an alternative subtext of what is really being said. Some of my particular favourites are;

Executive Summary - A brief assessment given to executives. If this summary were shown to those who actually do the work, they would giggle.

Milestones - Magically created dates that mean nothing, but give executives the impression that progress is being made.

Silver Bullet - The last ditch strategy to beat up another company who is currently kicking the shit out of you.

Dr Seuss got it right in Horton Hatches the Egg: "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant." Function or fashion as long as we are all clear on what is meant then our efforts won't go wasted on bad requirements.