Translating Project Terms

They Say: Project slightly behind original schedule due to unforeseen difficulties.
They Mean: We got so sick of working on this that we decided to do something else.

They Say: Major Technological Breakthrough.
They Mean: Back to the drawing board.

They Say: Developed after years of intensive research.
They Mean: It was discovered by accident.

They Say: Customer satisfaction is believed assured.
They Mean: We are so far behind schedule that the customer will be happy to get anything at all from us.

They Say: The design will be finalized in the next reporting period.
They Mean: We haven’t started this job yet, but we’ve got to say something.

They Say: Test results were extremely gratifying.
They Mean: It works, and are we surprised.

They Say: Extensive effort is being applied on a fresh approach to the problem.
They Mean: We just hired three new guys; we’ll let them kick it around for a while.

They Say: Preliminary operational tests are inconclusive.
They Mean: The darn thing blew up when we threw the switch.

They Say: The entire concept will have to be abandoned.
They Mean: The only guy who understood the thing quit.

They Say: Modifications are under way to correct certain minor difficulties.
They Mean: We threw the whole thing out and are starting from scratch.


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